The Sacrifices
by mispel
Summary: Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Dawn have to stop a sacrifice. Anya and Halfrek track down old enemies. Spike is after a special object and teams up with Harmony. Early season 7
1. Chapter 1: Pantomime

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Someone is back in town and up to no good. Buffy patrols with Xander. Anya and Spike try to deal with their new conditions. A new threat makes itself at home.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own none of it

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 1: Pantomime

  


As soon as the sun set, she came through the graveyard and hid something in the bushes. She put a finger to her lips, made shushing noises to the bundle, and went further away to wait. Finding a spot, she crouched out of sight.

She huffed and fidgeted. It seemed like hours. The thing she had stashed away wouldn't stay quiet. The noise carried to her and made her antsy. As did the ants crawling up her leg. She had enough. With one last look around, she waved to the bushes and she left.

  


Buffy fiddled with her stake as she walked - rolling it in her hand, throwing it from one hand to the other. Xander noticed her restless hands and gave her a look. When Buffy complained to him that there was nothing to kill, he didn't look the least bit sympathetic.

Their peaceful, night stroll through the cemetery was rudely interrupted. An overeager vampire shoved Xander aside and grabbed Buffy from behind. His hold on her left her arms stuck at her sides. Buffy hated that move. As she struggled to dislodge the immobilizing grip of the vampire's arms, Xander circled with a stake in hand. The vamp kept turning, though, and Xander couldn't take aim. Finally Buffy raised her legs and kicked out making them both fall backward. When he hit the ground, the vamp lost his grip and Buffy rolled away neatly. Xander took the opportunity to drive his stake into the prone vampire's chest only to end up thrown over when the vampire grabbed his arm and flipped him over his head. In the next second, the vamp was on his feet with Buffy waiting for him.

After they exchanged a few introductory blows, Buffy could tell that this vampire wasn't a Johnny Just Crawled Out of the Grave. He fought cautiously and skillfully - except for the stupid move of fighting her in the first place. That made it more fun. Sometimes she felt like she was nursemaiding new vamps through their first, wobbly steps out of the coffin. All they knew was that they wanted blood, and they wanted it now. They didn't even know who Buffy was. There should be a pamphlet 'You're a Newly Risen Vampire, Now What?'. With frequently asked questions like 'What is a Slayer?', 'Why do I find myself strangely attracted to her?', and 'Can I date her?'. The answer to that one would be a big old 'No!'.

As soon as they started fighting, Buffy had seen a moment of realization on this vampire's face. He knew who she was. That was nice.

The vamp ducked two of her kicks. So Buffy put more effort into her next move. She feigned a punch then gave him a kick to the jaw. She followed with a series of punches, just so he couldn't call her a tease. As his head popped backward with every hit, the vamp reeled, but he didn't fall. His next angry punch missed Buffy completely. She saw that his strength was waning. The fun was over. So she finished him off with a stake before he embarrassed himself.

She and Xander brushed dust and grass off their clothes. Holding his elbow, Xander winced but shook his head bravely when Buffy looked concerned. He showed her that the elbow worked by swinging it around. The pained faces he was making the whole time weren't all that comforting though.

As they walked, Buffy kept an eye on the fresh graves, but it looked like the cemetery's new guests were there to stay. Everything was peaceful except for the sky. It was dark blue with dark gray clouds turning silvery when they passed over the moon on their way east. The moon looked funny and lopsided with a bit shaved off its side. It shifted in and out of the clouds so the cemetery got a little light now and then. The changing light made Buffy feel like something was in the works. She kept her eyes open but she couldn't see anything except the white faces of gravestones sticking out of the ground.

  


Anya watched a couple fighting by a red car stopped in the deserted street. The car doors were wide open. The woman had been driving then she stopped, and the man got out. She called his name through the window. His name was Gary. When he didn't stop she got out of the car and ran after him.

It didn't look promising. Gary looked upset, and the woman was trying to explain something. Anya heard her say that it was a mistake. The woman grabbed the guy's arm whenever he tried to walk away. He kept raising his hands in a way that told Anya that the woman was in the wrong. It was rare but it happened sometimes. The woman kept gesturing at the car like she was asking him to at least let her give him a ride. He refused, and the woman yelled that she was sorry as he walked away.

Anya was very disappointed. The woman sat in the red car and cried quietly. Anya went to her on the off chance that there was some vengeance she could do. But Anya's lack of enthusiasm made her too slow and the woman drove away.

  


Spike struggled, but no matter what he did it stretched over him and confined him. His skin was a tourniquet. It compressed around his insides, trying to squeeze them out. The skin had cracked and oozed at first. Then it was pulled tight where the burns were healing. The burned places stopped hurting and started to itch and constrict. But he knew what would happen if he started scratching - he wouldn't stop. He needed to look nice for Buffy. Spike started to laugh convulsively at the thought that she might come to see him. She would see him - this thing that flailed at nothing, and dug its nails into itself, a thing whose every part turned against itself. With his fingers bloody, he stopped. The small wounds closed so fast. Spike struggled as his skin tightened around him.

  


Once upon a time something had burrowed deep underground and made a layer. The thing must have been long dead, its chamber disused. The entrance nearly buried. The old, narrow path led downward through the dirt. They followed it. Many eyes beheld the majestic space. Silently they agreed that it was perfect, and they made preparations.

  
To be continued


	2. Chapter 2: Colloquy

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Two new players fight over a prize. Anya watches Xander and Buffy. An old enemy goes shopping. The sinister group makes preparations for a ceremony.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own none of it

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Buffy and Xander patrolled. A mysterious figure brought something to the cemetery. An unknown group found an underground lair.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 2: Colloquy

  


In the scrub, just beyond the edge of the cemetery, words were exchanged in a demon tongue. The first demon spoke quickly in a high pitched squeal that was at odds with its menacing features. Its face was scaly, like the rest of it, with ridges almost like horns on top of its skull. The other demon spoke hesitantly, twitched, and fidgeted. It wasn't clear if it was just its natural movement, or if it was nervous. Its skin was mottled yellow and red. The creature's hands and feet ended in long claws.

The creature motioned with a clawed hand and led the other demon to a spot behind a rock. While its back was turned, the scaly demon brought its heavy arms down on its neck. The yellow demon staggered from the force of the blow then turned its claws viciously on its attacker. The demons fought while something small and pink squirmed nearby. They fought almost in silence. The scaly demon hitting the mottled one and biting it whenever it got close enough, while his opponent answered with its claws. Blood splattered all around. Skin and scales were shredded. The opponents were too closely matched. The fight was won only after much damage was done to both. At the end of it, the victor could barely move to get his prize.

  


Buffy and Xander crossed the cemetery the long way. One vampire was dust, but no more seemed forthcoming so the two of them passed the time talking. The conversation had turned to the aborted wedding. OK, Buffy had turned it that way. But it was for Xander's own good.

"You sure like talking about it. It's very sadistic of you," Xander joked.

Buffy thought about that for a minute. Hideous seaweed inspired, bridesmaids' dresses, drunkenness, families and demons fighting - it was a grand disaster, like every wedding should be. And then it wasn't. There was no big tragedy. Xander just said, "no thanks". If she were betting on someone getting a normal life, it would have been him. He was halfway there - he was normal. Here was this gaudy train-wreck hurtling him into married life, and he put on the breaks.

"You were right there. You came so close. I'll never have that," Buffy said pouting a little.

"So you aren't being sadistic."

"Just insensitive and self-centered," Buffy finished for him.

"Oh, give yourself some credit, you'll dump someone at the altar one day," Xander said in a 'cheer up' voice.

"I can dream."

Actually, she had stopped dreaming about weddings a while ago. Buffy couldn't picture herself in that dress any more. Not that there was any doubt that she would look gorgeous and stunning yet tasteful and demure. But who was going to be waiting at the altar? There was still a picture in her mind of Angel in an old fashioned, morning suit. But it was just an old picture. It looked posed and unreal to her now. Kind of faded. Like something she half remembered that never happened a long time ago. She had to put away that picture. Making Xander relive his mistake to escape thinking about her own - it was a plan. It would be therapeutic. For Xander, of course.

"So. What would you do different? You couldn't make yourself realize sooner you didn't want to get married?" Buffy asked and not just as a way to get herself away from her own thoughts. "Maybe not even ask her?" she proposed hesitantly.

At first Xander looked like he didn't want to dwell on that. But then his face had this thoughtful look.

"I don't know, but I kind of wouldn't want to give that up. First time out and I got a 'yes'. Plus I got the answer to the age-old question. No, not Superman vs. Batman. The looming end of the world vs. sheer, unimaginable terror of popping the big question. No contest," Xander quipped and Buffy smiled. She remembered how happy she was for him - at those times when she wasn't filled with dread and doubt or wrapped up in her own gloom.

They were about half way through the cemetery. There were graves on all sides of them. Xander stopped and Buffy turned a step ahead of him. He looked at the ground then shook his head.

"Listen to me. I want the girl to say yes when I ask her to marry me, but I don't actually want to go through with the wedding. Nice."

"That is kind of sucky," Buffy said, not wanting to bring him down but not wanting to pull her punches either. And ditching an ex-vengeance demon at the alter - he was lucky to be alive and not hanging upside down by his entrails.

"I am just not a good guy. I deserve what I got: the demony, the murderous, the bitchy, the other demony, and redemony - the sequel - even more demony than before..."

"You are the best guy," Buffy disagreed earnestly, interrupting him. "And, hey I think that's my collection of ex's," she added, unwisely turning the conversation to her own ex-extravaganza. Realizing that she didn't want to delve into that mess, she didn't say any more. She just tried to sort out who was who on Xander's list. The bitchy was a given. He must have been doing the same with hers.

"Who's the bitchy? Not Riley, he's my favorite," Xander asked her.

"Parker."

"That little bitch. I'd forgotten about him. As should you."

She had. It seemed so long ago. Buffy found it hard to believe she had ever agonized over his rejection. That lousy, lying...

  


Anya was close to the cemetery so she wandered in that direction. Not that it was a good place for prospective vengeance wishers. Though, there was that time in the Bavarian cemetery. A woman summoned her to her husband's grave because she wanted him resurrected so he could relive the last, agonizing days of his illness over and over. The woman had enjoyed them so much the first time around. Wish granted. Anya sighed thinking how easy it was then.

Anya saw someone wandering among the graves. It was a balding, old man in a checkered shirt looking for a grave. He kept reading the names to himself and shaking his head. Anya walked by him almost to the center of the graveyard. She stopped when they were still just vague shapes among the graves. Even though Anya couldn't really see them, she knew them right away. The way she had always known it was Xander even when her back was turned, even when she was asleep. She knew Buffy by that low rumble of something almost vengeful. Not enough to get a wish from her. Just a low humming under all that chipper bounce. But Buffy wasn't the kind of woman that needed Anya's help. Those women were out there - on buses, and in late night diners, and even in penthouses, in beds so big they needed little stepstools to climb into them. They weren't in cemeteries. But Anya still lingered watching people who were only shadows to her. Buffy and Xander walked away, and she lost them in the dark.

  


A figure crouched in the shadows and sneaked around the dark and featureless side of the building. As she walked in, the bright lights of the supermarket were a refreshing change from the gloomy darkness outside. Luckily there was no one there to judge her on her appearance. Except the checkout girl and she was wearing a garish, polyester outfit with a nametag so who was she to talk.

Everything looked so bright and cheerful: the red jars of pasta sauce, the blue boxes of pasta. Even the ramen noodles looked festive with the bright yellow signs proudly proclaiming their cheapness. She walked around for a while just enjoying the shopping experience. By chance, she found herself in the right place. There were shelves of the stuff. A whole isle. She let out a big sigh. How was she supposed to pick? Some jars were in a pyramid right on the floor with a big yellow, sale sign. She 'oohed' and went over to those. She grabbed some, feeling triumphant and went to the register. She smiled at the checkout girl who smiled back wanly.

"Paper or plastic?"

She frowned. The checkout girl looked annoyed as she peered at her under her tired eyelids.

"Plastic," she decided and reached over the counter. Grabbing the checkout girl, she pulled her over to her. After a sound of protest, the girl let out high, desperate screams but not for long. Her eyes grew wide, fluttered for a moment and went dead.

  


Deep underground, they donned ceremonial garments according to their rank. Cutting out a space in the wall, they made a special alcove. A pedestal was set inside it and the accomplishment of years placed on it. They made sure that their knives were sharp and clean.

  


To be continued


	3. Chapter 3: Discoveries

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: The shopping excursion doesn't end well. Buffy and Xander make a discovery.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: An old friend left something at the cemetery. Two demons fought over a prize. Anya watched Xander and Buffy.

  
  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 3: Discoveries

  
  


Something beeped as the checkout girl lay slumped over the scanner. The girl's stringy hair was pulled out of her ponytail where her attacker had grabbed it to hold onto her. The checkout girl's cheap and tacky necklace almost got caught in her teeth. It lay on the keys of the cash register where she had thrown it.

The beeping of the scanner was the only sound in the supermarket except for the rustling of shopping bags and clinking of little jars. She was not happy to have to bag her own purchases.

  


Buffy and Xander had walked almost the whole length of the cemetery. A few times Buffy thought she heard things, but the noises stopped before she could follow them. They found themselves where the graves ended, and there were more trees. Buffy looked into the deeper darkness of the outer edges of the cemetery grounds. Trees grew haphazardly, not yet organized into shade for the cemetery plots. They cast shadows on the grass as darker, irregular patches hidden from moonlight. Maybe it was a nice spot in the daylight, except for the graves. A place to have a picnic with your sweetie. Like those old paintings with half eaten food that were supposed to remind you that life was short or something. Hers was shorter than most. So she should be hurrying, right? Get a life. It's later than you think and all that.

It might have been too late already. Sometimes she felt like she had fallen through the cracks, and her life was already behind her. Just something to reminisce about. Buffy remembered that first rush of love, that almost high feeling. Not that she had ever been high, but what else could it be like. Even just the possibility of it was exciting. Seeing a cute guy, making flirty eye contact with him, having him rip out your bloody and still beating heart and then stomp on it with his stupid, big shoes.

"I should just plain forget about relationships, just give myself up to old maidhood," Buffy concluded.

"Or young maidhood," Xander corrected her.

She was almost there. Her eyes searched crowds less and less for that guy, that face, that body that she, like everyone, believed was there just for her. Weren't we all supposed to pair off? Wasn't that the plan? Then she must have been a straggler, a leftover. The last cookie on the plate - desirable, yet untouchable. But definitely desirable.

"I can be the confirmed bachelor," Xander said with fake enthusiasm. "Or is that just old, 50's code for gay?"

Buffy didn't think about the question. Her eyes searched the darkness for strange shapes, glowing eyes. That was her future - just the next demon. That's why she needed people around her to have good, solid, normal lives. Like people in orange juice commercials.

"You can't give up. I see kids in your future, a house you built from scratch, with your own hands," Buffy said letting her imagination paint a cozy picture as she looked out into the night.

"And possibly some nifty power tools?" Xander added.

"You and Riley, living happily ever after," Buffy continued with a smirk.

"Hey, I liked Riley in a purely hetero way."

"No, that's how I liked him," Buffy disagreed. "You liked him in a 'thank God he's not a vampire' way."

"That was a cool and refreshing change," Xander admitted.

"I know."

Buffy could feel Xander's eyes on her. She hoped that he wouldn't turn the tables on her and start talking about Spike. She knew it wasn't fair to rip bandages off his wounds and then run away. But that was exactly what she planned to do. She was an emotional coward. And she could live with that.

  


Willow sat on the couch in Buffy's living room, with her legs tucked under her. Dawn was puttering around the house, snacking and instant messaging, playing music and looking for one of her schoolbooks. Dawn had changed into cute pajamas with umbrellas on them. Buffy had told Dawn to go to bed, but Willow didn't feel like enforcing the rule. She was grateful for Dawn's company. The house was too quiet when everyone went to sleep. She had already held Buffy hostage late one night. Now she was helping a teenager defy authority. If Dawn turned to insider trading, it would be all her fault.

Willow stared out the window at the quiet neighborhood. Nothing moved out there. Xander had stopped by in the evening, and then he and Buffy had gone off to patrol. Forcing herself to be very cheerful, Willow had clamped down on how excluded she felt as they left together. But after everything that happened to her and everything she did, Willow knew she wasn't like them. And forgiven or reformed, she would never be again.

Dawn yelled something then ran through the living room holding the heavy textbook over her head like a trophy.

  


If Xander was going to say anything he didn't get a chance. They didn't have to move far from the cemetery proper and they saw it. Buffy's stomach lurched a little at the thought that it was a dead person. But when they got closer they saw it was just a gross, dead demon, and her stomach settled.

"Have you been slaying behind my back?" Xander asked as they looked over the body.

It was a skinny demon with red splotches on its yellowish skin. Buffy was pretty sure they were just a part of its naturally extreme, demon unattractiveness and not the cause of death. There were strange teeth marks on the side of his head and on his torso. It was like he was bitten by sharp teeth in two rows. Pools of thick, translucent yellow-green blood outlined the body. Some darker, wet spots dotted the ground further away.

"Demon infighting. Saves me the trouble," Buffy shrugged.

Xander poked at the ground with a stick. He used it to pick up something and showed it to Buffy. It looked like a torn swatch of scaly skin, weird dark blood clinging to one side of it.

"Gross," Buffy pronounced after examining it.

Buffy noticed the same scales and blood under the dead demon's long, broken claws. Cause and effect.

"Is this anything?" Xander asked holding up a small, white droopy thing. Buffy moved closer.

"A tiny, white sock? Not his size," she realized.

Xander dropped it back on the ground. Looking around they saw other litter farther away - wrappers and beer cans, half a bike wheel. They didn't keep it very clean away from the main cemetery. Buffy took the demon's body by the feet and dragged it to a less visible spot. She arranged some branches over it and hoped it would decompose quickly. The job finished, she got back and wiped her hands on some leaves.

"Need any help?" Xander asked her, smiling sweetly.

  


It must have been late. No noises from above. No feet, no bells, no dropped things. But below it was very active. All the crawly things that liked the night were crawling around the high school basement. They made small noises, rustling and clicking. But Spike didn't even hear them.

There was a ticking in Spike's head. Digging his fingers into his temples, Spike tried to make it stop. The ticking was slow, like someone was performing Chinese water torture inside him.

Spike tried to ignore it. Then he started to listen intently. It was trying to tell him something. The beats between the ticks, they meant something. He just had to focus.

He was right. There was a shooshing sound between the ticks, like at the end of the album when the needle scrapes the empty part of the record. As Spike listened, it grew louder.

  


To be continued


	4. Chapter 4: Separation

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Xander has an encounter. Another discovery is made. The mysterious figure sees her plans endangered. The cult lies in wait.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: An old friend left something at the cemetery. Two demons fought. Anya watched Xander and Buffy. Buffy and Xander made a discovery.

  
  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 4: Separation

  
  
  
  


Buffy tried to follow the dark patches of blood from the survivor of the demon death-match, but they disappeared after only a few yards. She and Xander moved back toward the center of the graveyard where the dead were organized in neat rows of graves decorated with vases of flowers and pretty statues. Buffy looked around for signs of anything demonic. Xander just looked around at the cemetery full of graves.

Following his gaze, Buffy looked at the graves too. She had her own somewhere in the woods - all torn up, the marker lying on its side. Next time maybe she would get a neat, little spot in the cemetery next to her Mom.

Buffy looked up to see Xander staring at her, looking a little worried. He did that sometimes. It made her feel like time had turned back, and it was last year, and she was newly resurrected, fragile, and a little stupid. She couldn't have that.

"I'm going to go scout around for our descaled friend with teeth," she told him. "You look tired. Maybe it's having a real job plus helping me slay, but you could use some beauty sleep," Buffy said sounding concerned.

Xander grabbed his chest as if he was wounded and staggered.

"Ouch, and I was a gentleman and didn't tell you how worn out and ragged you looked." Xander took a few steps back. Wise move.

"Shut up! I am beautiful and fresh as the morning dew," Buffy insisted resisting the urge to fuss with her hair. Maybe her clothes were a little messy, but otherwise...

"Yeah, dewy, if you are going to be like that, I'm leaving. I'll go somewhere where they appreciate my manly beauty," Xander announced as he walked backward.

"Prison?"

"I won't stand for this abuse!" Xander said overdramatically and left. Then he turned and gave her a goofy wave that made her smile.

Buffy felt guilty dragging him through cemeteries when he had to work a full day. Especially since he wasn't sitting behind the desk, shuffling papers, chatting with teens and calling it work. Not that she was complaining. It was the closest thing to a real job she could hope to have with her schedule. But Xander built things and used digit-endangering tools. She was proud of him and she wanted him to have everything she couldn't have, plus all his fingers. And it wasn't just for selfish reasons. She couldn't help feeling that she was taking up too much of his time and holding him back.

  
  


While Buffy had decided to stay and look for something else to kill, Xander was on his way home. He walked through the cemetery quickly, looking around trying not to jump at all the dark shapes that turned out to be shrubs.

He was passing a large monument when a shadow peeled itself away from its base and stepped forward as if fulfilling his fear. Xander raised a stake then put it away when he saw who it was.

"Trying to give me a heart attack? I guess that's one way to kill me," Xander said as he waited for his heart to stop beating like it was trying to kick its way out of his chest and run off somewhere safe.

"There are lots of ways," Anya said simply.

Xander didn't lose any sleep worrying that his very angry ex could rip him limb from limb with her bare hands if she chose to. Maybe it was all the other things he worried about, but somehow that just didn't make his top 10.

As Anya held him in her cool and steady gaze, Xander noticed that she looked beautiful but didn't say so. She wore a blue dress, or maybe purple. It was dark. The dress wasn't anything special - it was her. There was something about the way that moonlight played on her skin and shone out of her eyes. The eyes that told Xander not to bother complementing her.

She looked so human. Since he had found out Anya was a vengeance demon again, Xander had studied her whenever he saw her, looking for any traces of her demonness. There weren't any. Anya was more biting and angry than she had ever been. But that wasn't the demon.

As hard as it was, he liked seeing her. It was reassuring. Sure, she was a demon, but she wasn't dead. There's Anya. She's alive, hating him, doing horrible, vengeance things.

"Do you hear that?" Anya asked turning around.

Xander perked up his ears. He heard a slight noise that he couldn't identify. Focusing, he located the source in the nearby bushes only to have his hearing assaulted by a piercing scream. Anya covered her ears.

  
  


She fumed as she saw them. They would ruin everything. Buffy's friends were like busybody, old ladies - nothing better to do them poke around in her stuff. She had been waiting for them to get out of her way, trying to keep her bag of groceries quiet. But they had hardly even said a word. They were just staring at each other. Still that was better than what they were doing now.

  
  


Buffy followed the edge of the graveyard but saw no signs of the wounded demon. As she was ready to give up she noticed a familiar stirring under the dirt. A nice, fresh grave was about to open up and spew forth a creature of the night. Ooh, a consolation prize. Buffy crouched nearby waiting. The creature of the night, or Mathew, as he was known to the recently bereaved, poked his head out of the grave and looked around. Seeing Buffy, he looked disappointed.

"Where's Big Dog?" he asked and spit out some dirt.

"What big dog?" Buffy asked.

"This ... guy. He said he'd be here."

From the way Mathew hesitated, Buffy got the idea that maybe Mathew's guy was her vamp with upper body strength.

"By guy, do you mean a big vampire with strong arms?" she asked.

"I guess," Mathew said and he was about half way out of the grave. It wasn't a positive ID, but Buffy didn't care.

"He couldn't make it. Got stuck," Buffy said. She waited for the guy to pull himself out of the dirt, but he was taking his time.

"Ow, coffin splinters," the vampire complained and peered at the palm of his hand.

"You poor baby," Buffy said sympathetically.

"Big Dog told me he'd get me up to speed. Show me the ropes. Bring me something to eat," Mathew said as he eyed Buffy. Then he got himself most of the way out despite the debilitating splinter injury.

"I can help you out. It's sort of what I do," Buffy volunteered enthusiastically as she stood up.

"Did Big Dog send you?" he asked looking up at her like he was doubting her mentoring skills.

"Sure. And I'm going to teach you everything you need to know," Buffy promised. Mathew was out of his grave now. Dirt and bits of coffin were sticking to his clothes.

"Like, how to get dusted," Buffy said and she jabbed him with the stake she had been keeping out of sight. "There, you're a natural," she said as his dust scattered over his headstone.

Buffy stuck the stake back in her belt and stomped on the dirt the rising vamp had disturbed - for the sake of the family. No one liked to see their loved ones' graves messed up. The outskirts of the cemetery were quiet again, and Buffy decided to move on.

  
  


The underground chamber was cleansed. With only the sounds of shifting gravel and rocks to accompany their movements, they laid out the ceremonial things with reverence. When all the things were in place, they prostrated themselves on the ground that would be made holy by its presence. And they waited.

  
  


To be continued


	5. Chapter 5: Cacophony

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Xander and Anya find a bundle. The new arrival in town reveals herself. Spike is lectured on how to deal with his soul.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: An old friend left something at the cemetery. Anya watched Xander and Buffy. Buffy and Xander made a gruesome discovery.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 5: Cacophony

  


The sudden burst of noise that had cracked the peaceful silence of the demon and vampire infested cemetery settled into a steady wail. Xander gripped the stake in his hand tightly as a reminder that he was armed and ready. He stalked toward the noise while Anya walked over casually.

Xander pushed aside some branches and discovered a baby in a carrier. The baby's face was red and scrunched while he cried. Seeing that he probably wouldn't need the stake, Xander put it away. He noticed that the baby was wearing a blue outfit with yellow ducks or maybe chicks, some kind of poultry. There was also a small, blue blanket bunched up around its kicking feet. Based on all the blue, Xander guessed that the baby must be a boy.

"It's human," Xander concluded as he crouched over the screaming child who looked a few months old.

"That horrible noise didn't come from a human offspring," Anya disagreed dismissively not coming close enough to actually see for herself.

Xander lifted the baby and it quieted down. He shifted the boy until he was holding him comfortably. There, he was a pro, a natural. One day...

Anya still questioned the baby's humanity while peering at him suspiciously. When he offered her a closer look, she scowled at the kid and glared at Xander.

Xander cooed to the baby as he checked to make sure he was all right. The baby was drooling and he didn't look happy, but he seemed OK for a baby abandoned in a Sunnydale cemetery. Remembering the tiny white sock he found by the body of the demon, Xander looked at the baby's feet. They were covered by foootie pajamas. It was good that the kid hadn't been anywhere near the traumatizing, demon, death brawl.

But it wasn't the end of it. There was something other than demon carnage that was known to make babies unhappy. Xander checked the child's diaper gingerly. Safe from the horrors of diaper changing for the moment, he let out a huge sigh of relief. It reminded him that kids were cute and soft and cuddly, and sometimes they grew up to be Nobel Prize winners. But there was all that other stuff that kept parents up at night well into the college years, drove them into debt, tearing their hair out, getting ulcers and second mortgages.

"We were supposed to have one of those," Anya said almost as a question as she looked at the baby, still frowning. "Or a boat."

Xander tried not to think of the two children he had seen in his wedding-stopping vision. They weren't real. He hardly even remembered them. They had faded like faces from a bad dream. But he remembered that they were a huge pain in the ass.

"It was in the plan," Anya said. The plan they had made and he had ruined. He knew it was what she meant.

"Look..." Xander stared, tired of the hinted recriminations. Then he stopped as he saw something move in the shadows.

"Look!"

"You already said that. Only with a different inflection," Anya complained until something jumped her.

  


A voice came from the walls all around him. It was loud. Felt like the sound was hitting him. Spike hoped that he would go deaf. And blind. Not hearing things and seeing things would be such a relief.

Spike was getting a talking to from the voice. "Hope is a made up thing," it told him. Spike nodded. It was best to agree with everything, avoid a nasty argument.

"Don't let this new thing trip you up. It's nothing. It's like hope. Ignore it, and it will go away. Well, as good as. It will fade, like old curtains left in the sun, threadbare, and see-through, the sun shining right in. Don't fret."

All this talk of sunlight made Spike worry. The voice started to sound familiar. But it was too loud and he couldn't concentrate to recognize it. Abruptly, it changed to a whisper. Its old loudness was a painful echo in Spike's ears. The change threw him off balance.

"Remember how good it used to be? How good it felt. Do you hear that word, 'good'? Good is like salt - you need just a little. You overdosed on it, spoiled the dish, now you're choking," the whisper said, coming from the corner of the room.

Spike could make out a white head there. He stared at it until he could see a small, skinny, old man with white hair. Just as familiarity was about to turn into recognition, the old man looked up and smiled stretching out his face into a terrible grimace. Seeming to reach out across the room as if to enter Spike's mind, the smile stayed frozen on the distended face. Spike couldn't close his eyes to block it out. All he could do was shut his mouth tight so he wouldn't shame himself by screaming.

  


All Xander saw was a pastel blur rush out from behind a tree and grab Anya from behind. Anya tried to shake it off then she stopped. With one quick twist, Anya threw over her attacker. For the first time, Xander could see her clearly.

"Harmony!"

She was sprawled on the ground going "Ow, ow, ow!". Her hair and clothes were a mess. Looking like she had been playing in the dirt, she stood up casually.

"Hey. So what's new with you guys?" Harmony greeted them placing her hand on one hip. In the other, she carried a grocery bag.

They didn't answer only watched as Harmony tried to run her hand trough her messy hair alluringly only to have it caught in the tangles. Seeing the bewildered glares from Xander and Anya as she untangled her fingers from her head, Harmony gave up her pose.

"That's mine." She pointed to the baby with a ragged, pink fingernail. "That thing you're holding. It's mine," she clarified still pointing.

"Riiight." Xander shifted the baby away from Harmony and raised his stake as a warning.

"If it's yours, prove it," Anya demanded.

"I am not giving a baby to a vampire, Anya," Xander said. He couldn't believe the things she said sometimes.

"We could do that thing, where you each call the baby, and we see who it goes to," Anya suggested reasonably.

"It's not a dog. And it can't walk. I don't think," Xander pointed out. He didn't know much about babies, but he was almost sure this one couldn't walk yet. Xander looked down at the baby as if looking for confirmation. He only got a view of the patch of soft, dark hair on top of his head as the baby was curled in his arms.

"We'll see who it crawls to, then," Anya continued.

"Nooo."

"We could do that other thing, where I take a sword and threaten to split it in two..." Anya made a splitting motion with her hand that chilled Xander a little.

"No splitting!" Xander exclaimed as he held the baby protectively. He was pretty sure Anya wasn't serious. Plus she didn't have a sword.

"Yeah, no splitting. I need it whole. A whole baby," Harmony agreed.

Xander took a deep breath. Talking to Harmony was agony and Anya wasn't helping. Or she was helping but in that way that always made his head hurt. Xander really didn't want to hear any recipes for a 'whole baby'. But he was going to ask about it anyway.

"So you two married yet?" Harmony asked before Xander could say anything.

"Shut up," Anya and Xander said in unison.

"Is that a 'yes'?" Harmony asked vacantly.

Xander couldn't believe that even stupid vampires had a wedding obsession. It was just a ceremony, like the Oscars. Why couldn't they just go on with their lives without it? It was just some words and a piece of paper. There were worse things than not getting married, like a burst appendix, or a scorpion bite, an IRS audit. The baby shifted and made a complaining noise as if to remind Xander of the important issue of the moment.

"Where did you get this kid?" Xander asked Harmony. Harmony looked away with a stubborn set to her jaw.

"Um, Harmony, if you look this way, you'll see I have a stake," Harmony didn't look impressed. "If you look that way, you'll see a vengeance demon you just tried to wrestle with," Xander added. Looking at Anya, Harmony seemed a little worried. Harmony sighed and let her hands fall to her sides. She looked like she was done trying to win this.

"The stupid baby was too much trouble anyway. I can't find the stupid buyer. And I hate diapers," Harmony whined.

Xander held the stake half way up encouraging an actual answer. Harmony shrugged.

"You know, a baby place," she said waving her hand around vaguely.

She moved as if to leave but Anya circled her slowly. Harmony just looked confused, like a penned in sheep.

"Do you mean a dimension made up entirely of babies? They have those, you know," Anya said turning to Xander.

"Really, it must be very poopy," Harmony said wrinkling her nose as if speaking from recent experience.

"Actually..." Anya started to say

But Xander didn't want to hear about an all baby dimension. He had a baby right there, kidnapped by a vampire, for God knows what reason, and he needed to know some stuff if he was going to help the little guy get back where he belonged.

  


Everything was in its place as decreed. They lay still, waiting for the last element of their ritual to be brought to them. Their ears were just holes on their smooth heads but with them pressed to the ground they could hear if anyone approached. The hatchlings were not yet stirring so there was only silence and far off struggles of things trapped in the dirt.

  


To be continued


	6. Chapter 6: Query

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Harmony reveals her plans for the baby. Anya searches for an informant.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: An old friend left something at the cemetery. Anya and Xander questioned Harmony. Spike was lectured about his soul.

  
  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 6: Query

  
  


The cemetery seemed to shift as clouds slipped over the moon. Shadows grew, loomed, then retreated. Anya and Xander were still near the place where they had found the baby. Looking both bored and confused, Harmony fidgeted. Xander still had his serious face on. He held up a stake part way, but Anya was sure that Harmony was cooperating only because she was there. And Anya only hung around because she had nothing better to do.

Anya thought about what it would feel like to hold the baby. Not that she wanted to get slobbered on. She was just mildly curious. It wasn't like she still wanted one. She was beyond all that.

As she looked at Xander holding the kid, Anya wondered if he was beyond that too. Or if that had been part of the lie, and he had never wanted the kids, or the boat, or any of it. And if he ever would. With someone else of course.

The baby turned his head and looked right at Anya. His lashes were still moist from his recent crying and inhuman screaming. His eyes had that open, transparent look that babies have. Unguarded. Like you could look right inside his empty, little head. The baby broke his blank stare and turned to drool on a fresh spot on Xander's shirt.

  


Xander prodded Harmony about where she got the baby, trying to look stern but feeling less threatening as the baby gummed the pocket of his shirt.

"A daycare place in LA. I've been lugging that thing around forever. It's been a real challenge," Harmony said, her expression solemn.

"I've heard that about raising children. And it explains your appearance," Anya said conversationally.

"I mean, it's been a challenge not eating it. They wanted it whole, I told you already," Harmony reminded them.

"Who did?" Xander asked darkly. Or that's how it sounded to him. To anyone else it might have sounded dorky, but he was dead serious.

"These demon guys. They need a baby born on some holy day of theirs, to sacrifice, you know," Harmony explained off hand and tossed her messy hair off her shoulder.

Xander held the baby more closely to him. He even considered covering his little ears.

"What is the going rate for a human baby these days, anyway. I've been kind of out of the loop," Anya said looking at Xander accusingly.

Xander didn't really get it. Anya was blaming him for something again. But the blame was now a constant vibe from her, and it was hard to tell apart all the many, various wrongs he had done her by not going through with the wedding. Right now he wasn't going to worry about it.

"It's this jewel-encrusted thing. Kind of ugly, but worth a whole bunch," Harmony answered sounding excited.

Xander glared at her. He was relieved that he had the baby now, and it was safe from harm. But he knew that wasn't the end of it.

"What if they get another baby?" Xander said worriedly. He had spoken to Anya, and for a second he wondered if she would care.

"I know who she means. The ugly jeweled thing cinched it. I'll take care of it."

Then both she and Xander eyed Harmony, trying to asses how much of a threat she might be. In response to their stares, Harmony tried to look innocent but only managed vacant.

"Give me your belt," Anya ordered Xander.

"Just like old times," Xander mumbled as Anya got the belt off him while he held the kid.

Harmony started to back up. Anya stalked her slowly with the belt in hand. Then just as Harmony broke into a run, Anya jumped on her and pinned her to the ground.

"No, wait, I'll be good. Not the belt," Harmony pleaded as Anya dragged her over to a tree. Using the belt, she wrapped Harmony's wrists and tied her arms backward around the tree trunk.

"Why don't we just stake her? Old times sake?" Xander asked as he admired the way Anya could tie his belt into knots.

"Just in case she forgot to tell us something," Anya said. Then she stood up and appraised her work. She nodded, satisfied and was gone.

  


The screams were building up into a thick mass inside his head. Still, Spike wouldn't let them out. He could be a stubborn jailer. Hold them in till they died. No one was going to hear their pitiful noise and come running. No running in the halls. No begging, no whimpering, no talking, pay attention.

Spike wanted to get away, but he couldn't leave whenever he wanted to. It was school after all. There were lectures to hear. If he didn't listen, he got the switch. If he learned, he would get to leave. That's what they told him. But the bell wouldn't ring.

There was nowhere to go anyway. He couldn't leave it behind. Even when his mind shook loose to slip away from it, Spike was left alone with the thing. There was no safe place. It went everywhere with him. And it was heavy. He got tired carrying it about. And there was nowhere to put it down. It didn't fit anywhere but on his back.

The old man said he just had to build up his strength. Then he said, "And you know how you build up your strength? You eat."

  


As she left, Anya's form was swallowed up by the night. Xander looked after her, but in her dark dress, she blended in so quickly. Xander felt the night start to close around him, but then the moon came out from behind the clouds. Without Anya there, Xander grew extra aware that he was in the middle of the cemetery and solely responsible for protecting an infant. It was a whole new kind of terrifying experience. Xander took a breath and silently reassured himself that he could take care of the baby. Or take him to Buffy's house and pawn him off on her. Giving a warning look to Harmony as she struggled to get herself free, he tightened his grip on the stake and the baby.

"Can't I even say goodbye?" Harmony asked with a shaky smile.

Xander just pulled up his stake making sure to keep the sharp end far away from the baby.

"But I've been like a mother to it," Harmony whined.

Xander made a stabbing motion with the stake and Harmony harrumphed, "I hope your pants fall down."

"You wish," Xander said back to her. But then he saw her "as if" look.

"Or probably not," he realized.

Xander tried to put the baby in the carrier, but he started crying as soon as he put him down. He gave up and picked him up again. Seeing a colorful, diaper bag on the ground, he grabbed it and put it over his shoulder. A few feet away Xander saw the grocery bag with jars of baby food. He looked at Harmony.

"Fine, you get arrested for shoplifting strained goop," she said sounding hurt.

Xander shrugged and picked up the bag of food. The baby chewed on his own little hand.

"Hungry? Aww, I'll give you some yummy, strained goop. But first we need to get out of the icky cemetery." After hearing himself, Xander made a mental note - cut back on baby talk, not manly.

Xander left the cemetery, stake in hand, being even more watchful than before. He wondered how dangerous he looked holding a stake, a shopping bag, a diaper bag, and a baby.

"If we run into any trouble, don't be a hero, save yourself," he told the baby, who placed a wet hand on Xander's face.

"Drool hand, thanks."

He considered going to find Buffy but he wasn't sure she was still around. He decided it would be safer to take the baby straight to her house.

  


Seeing Xander should have made her feel stronger, more vengeful. Instead, Anya felt off. Her insides were all squishy and mixed up. Like when she was newly human, and she felt vaguely nauseous all the time. Maybe it was being a newly minted vengeance demon that had her new demon insides discombobulated. She just needed to keep busy. Maybe get back on D'Hoffryn's good side again. And completing this little mission successfully might just do it.

Anya stormed into the decrepit, demon layer and glared around the room. A few of the demons jumped when she barged in but then went back to sitting around, waiting to have their fortunes read. The place was a disused storeroom of a long closed, discount, shoe store. Old shoeboxes were stacked collapsing in the corners. The waiting demons sat on wooden crates and folding chairs. The main attraction was a hooded demon behind the desk opposite the entrance. A single lamp with a red lampshade gave his face some cheesy, Halloween shadows.

"An honor to read the fortune of the great vengeance giver," he said with unctuous sarcasm.

Anya just looked around the room silently. The informant was a frightened, little demon, who liked to have his fortune read every few days just to make sure he wasn't at death's door. But he wasn't there.

As Anya was about to leave, she noticed that the demon behind the desk was smirking at her. She charged over and flipped the desk on top of him. The demon made strangling noised as he was trapped under it, the edge against his neck. Anya pressed down until the noises stopped. She didn't have time for anything more elaborate. Maybe another time.

Anya left resolved to get her reputation reestablished before even the lowest demons got smirky and sarcastic with her.

  


The only movement was the settling of rock dust back onto the cavern floor. But some were growing restless in their worshipful repose. Their slick, gray skin hummed with unfulfilled anticipation. A silent assurance passed to them that there was still time. They went back to listening. Nearby, the hatchlings started to twitch for the first time.

  


To be continued


	7. Chapter 7: Confluence

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Anya recruits Halfrek. Harmony is rescued. Buffy and the gang deal with the baby.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Harmony revealed her plans to sell the baby as a sacrifice. Buffy searched for the surviving demon. Anya tied up Harmony and went off to find an informant. Xander was left with the baby.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 7: Confluence

  


Dragging her feet, Buffy strolled home. It didn't feel like a full night's slaying. Two vamps - well one and a half, really - and a demon for whom she couldn't take credit, and another demon she couldn't catch.

Buffy went through smelly alleys, empty parking lots; walked by abandoned buildings and through a park - all the places you weren't supposed to go. She even lay down on a park bench and pretended to be asleep, practically wearing an "I am demon food, come and get me" sign.

Buffy heard tires screech on a nearby street. She heard someone stepping on broken glass, but nothing attacked her. Turning over, Buffy looked up at the moon. It still looked crooked. Then a ragged edge of a cloud started across it. The sky hadn't been still all night. The clouds were sweeping one after the other, meeting up then separating. The moon wasn't in the same place where it started. When the clouds blocked out the moon, Buffy got up and started home through deserted, but well lit suburban streets.

  


As he walked down the sidewalk to Buffy's house, Xander looked at the baby. The kid leaned on his shoulder taking even, soft breaths.

"You asleep little guy?"

The streets of Buffy's neighborhood were empty but not too scary. Xander could hear a TV blaring a few houses away. A comfortingly boring, tan sedan pulled into a garage down the block. A nice place to raise kids. Nothing to worry about. Unless a police car happened by and spotted Xander with an illegally obtained baby and an unbelievable excuse.

"You probably think that I'm this big guy who's got it all together," Xander said to the child. The kid had no comment.

"We can be buds though, right? Sure, I eat solid food. Most of the time." The baby didn't look impressed. Xander tried again, "I mean, I'm so on a roll, I can't even recognize me. A real job. An apartment that's not a subterranean dump. One wedding away from having it all. So what went wrong, you ask." Actually the kid didn't ask. But he would if he could. He was such a good, little listener. He just didn't want to interrupt.

"Fate woke up from his nap, that's what happened. Because, see, fate is a lying, old man in a cheesy trench coat," Xander explained to the attentive, little kid as they passed well kept lawns. A tree had a garage sale sign tacked on it. Everything was as it should be in the land of suburbia.

"So fate looks my way and it's like, 'Whoa there, this is not for you. Xander Harris, who do you think you are? Back up a little. Take a look at this magic 8-ball.' And that's it," Xander told the sleepy kid. The child shifted a little, maybe made a little baby sound of sympathy.

Xander had been sleepwalking. Looking at that glowing sphere was a really harsh wake up call. No soft-spoken "wakey, wakey". It was a rousing slap in face, a punch in the gut, a blow to the head. A big reminder of who he was and who he would turn into if he wasn't careful.

So he got off the marriage highway at the next ramp. It was at the last possible second - a sharp turn, tires squealing, rubber marking the road. And he left a ten car pileup behind him. But at least he wasn't on that road any more. This road looked familiar, but he didn't know where it went. As he took the last steps to Buffy's door, Xander kept talking to the baby.

"It was for the best, probably. But it doesn't change the fact that I got suckered. So here is a lesson, one to grow on. If on your wedding day, or at any time, an old man comes up to you with a glowing ball and tells you he is you from the future, ask some questions. Call the cops on him. Make him do a Snoopy dance. Damn his arthritic knees. Woops, sorry about the 'damn'. You didn't hear it from me. It's not going to be your first word, is it?" Xander asked the baby worriedly, craning his head to see if maybe he was safely asleep and incorruptible.

Xander stood on Buffy's front porch and looked down at the kid he was holding. The baby squinted a little under the porch light. He had no idea about his narrow escape. He was in pretty good shape. Not even that dirty. It was just luck that had saved him. But he was ready to fall asleep like nothing had happened.

"Hey, little dude, we're here. When we go in, watch out - they'll be on you like girls on cute. Now, we're going to be outnumbered. It's two against three, and you are kind of small for your size. So stick close to me, and follow my lead," he told the baby just before he walked through the door.

  


Anya was behind a convenience store searching for the informant that could tell her about the demons who owned a big, ugly jewel and sacrificed babies. He was a slurpee addict and liked to stick close to the source and pick up discarded containers while they were still fresh and lick out the leftovers with his long tongue. Demons could be so gross. Anya kicked at a discarded cardboard box big enough to hide a smallish demon. It skidded away empty.

She wanted to blame Xander, but Anya knew that the current state of her demon reputation was her own fault. Maybe it hadn't been the greatest idea to invite all her so-called demon friends to her so-called wedding. Anya just hadn't wanted half the rented chairs to be empty. On one side of the isle, friends of Xander, on the other side, a lonely wind howling through row after row of empty seats. So they were all conveniently on hand to witness one of the most powerful and feared vengeance demons get dumped at the alter by a human. Well at least Xander's family made a good impression on them. She was still hearing the awed tales of their almost demonlike savagery.

As she walked around the small building, Anya decided that she was doing this because she was bored and to get a few much needed points from D'Hoffryn. Not because of Xander. He was irrelevant. And she wasn't hanging around cemeteries because of old times, or because she hoped to run into him. She did happen to see him with Buffy. But she wasn't spying. Xander and Buffy were spending a lot of time together, though. And not in a cumbersome threesome, in a convenient, little twosome. How cozy.

Finding his filthy layer, but not the demon, Anya stalked off toward a demon bar he liked to frequent. She almost ran right into Halfrek who had appeared in front of her.

"I'm bored!" Anya blurted out defensively.

"OK," Hallie said taken aback by her tone. "Want to see a movie?"

"No. Denekari's minions are in town. I'm going to mess up those freaks. Want to come?"

  


Harmony struggles with the belt but the stupid, bargain basement, crime against fashion actually held together. After each attempt, Harmony would sit and pout for a while. Then, getting bored with that, and worried that she would get fried at sunrise, she went back to trying to get herself free. In the middle of trying to get loose, she saw someone approach and she beamed. A balding, potbellied, old man in a checkered shirt doddered toward her.

"Do you need help, Miss?" he asked while scratching his head. He looked away like he had somewhere to be.

"Umm, yeah. Dah," Harmony told him ungraciously. He nodded and went around the tree.

"You are going to have to get something to cut me loose," Harmony said in a condescending, singsongy voice. Before she was even finished, the man pulled out a pocketknife. Harmony felt a moment of reflexive fear, but then she remembered that a small knife like that couldn't do much damage to her. It was good to be a vampire.

The old man worked on cutting the belt for a while and the whole time chattered about his wife. He had been away. Somewhere. He couldn't remember the name of the place. He couldn't remember lots of things. A nice place, but they wouldn't let him leave. Now he was back and couldn't find her grave. It was all really tragic and sad, but Harmony wasn't listening. She was hatching a plan.

Once her hands were freed, the old man gave her a hand up. Then he was ready to go on his way, but Harmony stopped him.

"No, Miss. I have to go. She'll think I forgot her," the old man told her as he tried to leave.

Harmony grabbed him by the throat and crushed his windpipe. He dropped to the ground and was dead in no time. Harmony thought how lucky it was that he came along.

  


When Buffy got home, Dawn opened the door in her pajamas. Buffy had been reaching for the doorknob and she stopped short.

"I see you are ready for bed, but not actually in bed. You get partial credit only," Buffy told Dawn as she walked through the front door.

When she saw Willow take a baby to the living room couch, she stared.

"Who's babysitting," Buffy asked as she followed them.

"Xander."

"Really. But you have a real job," Buffy said surprised to find Xander at her place.

"Being a stay at home parent is a valid choice," Xander quipped.

Willow and Dawn were cooing over the baby on the couch as Xander told Buffy what happened. There was a diaper bag on the coffee table. They had pulled out the contents looking for clues. Now there were diapers, teething rings, and other baby paraphernalia all over the living room. But no convenient "Property Of" stickers or "If Found Return To" tags.

"They make you put tags on luggage. And on dogs. But a baby can just wander around with no ID," Xander said jokingly to a grumpy Buffy.

"We'll all get arrested for kidnapping. Stupid Harmony," Buffy groused.

"We'll sneak the baby back to LA. Maybe we can leave it on an orphanage doorstep," Xander suggested, kidding again.

"Hey, don't leave any prints on the baby, it's going back," Buffy announced and her face was totally serious.

Willow and Dawn looked at Buffy strangely then turned their attention back to the baby.

"What's with you? Aren't you supposed to be slobbering over the baby? It's your duty as a certified, card carrying female," Xander asked.

Seeing as everyone thought she was being strange and unfeeling, Buffy decided to confess.

"I'm trying not to look directly at him. If I can avoid his cute rays, I'll be safe," she explained though everyone still looked at her funny.

"He is cute. Can we keep him?" Dawn asked just to see the look on Buffy's face.

Buffy didn't disappoint her.

  


The underground cavern was silent and ready, filled with waiting demons laid out on the ground. They might have looked asleep, but each one was alert and listening, keeping unseemly impatience at bay with thoughts of finally seeing their god.

  


To be continued


	8. Chapter 8: Persuasion

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: The gang deal with the baby. Harmony goes to Spike for help. Anya and Halfrek find the informant. The surviving demon has some trouble.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Harmony revealed her plans to sell the baby as a sacrifice. Anya recruited Halfrek. Harmony was rescued. Two demons fought.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 8: Persuasion

  


Spike heard a noise. First, there was a thumping on the stairs, then dragging sounds down the corridor. Finally, the rusty door flew open and there stood Harmony. She pulled behind her the dead body of an old man in a checkered shirt.

"I heard you were staying here. Look what I brought you! It's not a bribe. It's a basement-warming gift. Still warm and everything," she said to Spike.

Spike had been pacing the dark and dismal room of the high school basement when Harmony barged in. She stared at him with her mouth open for a while. At first, Spike just stared back at her not knowing if she was real. She didn't have that high, gaudy polish to her, like she used to, like she had been lacquered. She was messy and she reeked. Spike wasn't sure if that was evidence for or against her being real.

"Oh God, Spike, you look...worse than I do," Harmony said as she tried to straighten herself out.

She had the same hoarse catch to her unrelentingly high voice. The worst case scenario was that she was real. Based on that, Spike decided that she must be. As he looked up, Spike mumbled a sarcastic thank you to the ceiling.

Harmony pulled the old man further into the room. She frowned down on him disapprovingly.

"The shirt, I know. He doesn't look appetizing. But he's still fresh. I hardly had any. Filled up on this checkout girl. So, he's all yours," Harmony said looking kind of doubtful as Spike stared at the body.

Spike looked at the old man's peaceful face. His eyes were open and staring. They were like cloudy marbles. Spike went over to close them. He pressed down, but they were stubborn and wouldn't stay shut. They were looking up at the ceiling. Spike giggled and sat down against the wall. In the background Harmony talked and talked.

  


Dawn was playing with the baby's feet, and Willow was busy helping her. Xander sat with Buffy a little away from them.

"Maybe we should figure out how to get his cuteness back home before we end up in jail. Because 'we saved him from ditzy vampire kidnappers and demon sacrifice' just won't fly as a defense," Buffy said not wanting everyone to be sidetracked by the little, drool machine.

"Let's load up the car with diapers and baby formula and head to LA," Xander proposed.

"You guys can go. If I take one look, I'll want to fill out adoption papers or something. I have to stay and mop up these baby-sacrificing demons anyway," Buffy explained.

"Anya said she would take care of it," Xander told her.

Buffy waited a second for Xander to realize what he was saying. But he just shrugged.

"Anya, you ex fiancée and current vengeance demon. I think I might want to look over her work when she's done," Buffy said archly.

"He probably has parents you know," Dawn observed taking a break from burbling to the baby.

"Ooh, parents," Willow said and got on the computer.

"Maybe we should just turn on the news," Buffy suggested, kicking herself for not thinking of it sooner.

"Oh, yeah, the news." Xander grabbed the remote.

Buffy rolled her eyes and concluded that exposure to harmful, baby fumes was making everyone stupid. She heard it happened to new parents. A month or two of spit up and baby talk and they couldn't pass second grade. It probably worked even faster when the baby was extra cute. They needed to ditch this kid or start wearing Hazmat suits.

  


The rundown house looked like a battleground in the war of humans vs. felines. And evidently, the felines had won. That was just judging from the smell, the greenish, cat puke, and the cat hair wafting up with every step. Halfrek held her nose the whole time as they went through what was once the living room. There were no cats in sight. Probably because there was a demon bar in the basement.

The basement had paneling on the walls and the kind of cheap, little bar people stick in their rec rooms. The barstools had torn up cushions. No cat smell there, just the refreshing aroma of thriving mold and the cheapest demon booze money could buy.

Anya and Halfrek walked through the place in a rush to leave as soon as possible. Vengeance demons being spotted in a place like that would keep the demon gossip mongers going for weeks. Just as they passed a stinking drunk, blue demon, he spoke up loudly.

"You have no pride any more. You vengeance demons have sunk so low. There was a time when you waited to be summoned. Trolling bars for losers." His words were slurred with drink and he spat as he talked.

"Anyanka, I think he's talking to you," Halfrek said without turning to look at the blue demon. "He certainly wouldn't dare to speak to me that way. And it's called being proactive," Hallie explained loudly.

"Some people have better things to do than sit around waiting for some loser to summon them," Anya said mostly to herself as she looked around the bar. Anya spotted the loser she was currently looking for hunched over a thick and lumpy pink drink. She went over to him.

"Is it my day to die?" he asked shaking visibly. But that was what he usually did whenever anyone came near him.

"No, but that guy over there is asking for it," Anya told him then she got right to business. "I know Denekari's worshipers are dug in somewhere. Where are they?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but instead, Anya heard the drunk demon say, "Did they get your necklace, Anyanka?" and cackle.

Anya moved toward him as Halfrek stood aside.

"You are stupid and easily amused," Anya said in a clipped tone of someone just stating the facts.

"He's dead drunk," the bartender spoke up, trying to make excuses while moving out of range. He probably didn't like seeing his customers get killed. Especially before they paid for their drinks. Anya imagined that the killers rarely picked up the victim's bar tab.

"Dead, yes" Anya agreed.

Seeing that Anya was going to be busy, Halfrek went over to the informant to question him. But once she got close, she stepped back again.

"Anyanka, he stinks," she whined.

"In this place, how can you tell?" Anya wondered. She had to admit he did have a sickly sweet and sour smell wafting around him. She sighed.

"Ok, switch," Anya said reluctantly letting Hallie deal with the loudmouth. As Hallie approached him, the blue demon drew back.

"I'm not afraid of you," he said getting off the barstool and tipping it over. He put up his dukes, or his three fingered hands balled into fists. "If I'm going down, I'm going down fighting," he said standing on his unsteady bowed legs.

"Oh, honey, no you're not," Hallie told him almost kindly and with pity, then she slammed his head into the bar.

  


If Spike looked at the dead man too long, the dead face changed. The eyes rolled up and looked at him and the lips stretched into a smile. Spike closed his eyes, but then he saw other things. The whole time Harmony talked. She babbled something about a baby, and Spike realized that what she said didn't make any sense.

"You're talking gibberish. You trying to upstage me?" Spike pointed an accusing finger at her as he spoke.

"The slayer. You know, you have a big love jones for her? She, or one of her dorky friends, has my kid. This baby sacrifice I carried all the way from LA," Harmony said sounding exasperated at his stupidity.

Spike didn't like that she mentioned her. Throwing his arm over his eyes, he tried to block out the glare that rimmed the jagged edge of the ceiling. Sometimes the ceiling opened like a lid of a tin can, and he could see way up. But he had to be careful - if it opened in the daytime, he'd be burned. His roof was the floor, and it was going to peel off and throw him into Hell. Harmony didn't notice.

"LA isn't that far," Spike pointed out sensibly to distract himself from the threatening ceiling. But then his mind started to shift. "Did you get lost? Did you fall down a hole? I lost a shiny, new marble down the grate and into the sewer. Did you see it?"

Harmony didn't answer about the marble. Rude cow. Still talking about some brat. Not making sense.

"It is most of the way on foot. With a crying baby. When you have to lug baby food so it doesn't scream all the time. And diapers to catch all the poop it poops. And it poops because you have to feed it, or it will scream in your ear the whole time."

Spike smiled. Harmony was a gerbil running a wheel. In a whiny voice, she told him how she had only stashed the baby in the bushes for a minute. That's all it takes. That's all he ever needed.

"I went to get something to eat, or I was going to eat that baby and lose out on the reward. Plus the baby had to eat too. I got a nice checkout girl at the supermarket. 'Paper or plastic?' That always stumps me," Harmony frowned remembering the effort.

"There are no good deeds, no right choices, no rewards," Spike told her in a monotone. It was one of his lessons. He had memorized it despite himself. The dead, old man seemed to nod his head.

"I got plastic. And sure there is a reward. It's this big, jewely thingy. A demon in LA said he would give me a million bucks for it," Harmony squealed.

Spike dropped his head into his hands. There was Harmony yammering and a voice whispering too low for him to hear. There was a sound in his ears like water rushing. Too much noise. But he knew that behind all that noise there was silence. If he could only break through. Spike slammed his head backwards into the wall. As Harmony started to notice that everything wasn't right with him, she frowned.

"Why are you so filthy and gross and crispy? Your hair isn't even slicked back. And why are you talking like you're on drugs? Are you on drugs?" Harmony asked. "Maybe you should eat something. Like this nice, old guy I brought you," she offered.

Spike could smell the old man's blood drying. Spike's skull reverberated and he stared up at the ceiling. Its jagged edge still glowed. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to see the sun again. He remembered it used to be a nice feeling to have sun on your face. Warming you, brightening everything, shining off the gray water, making it all look just a little nicer.

"Whatever. Are you going to help me get the Deadcanary Cluster thingy? You can have a finder's fee," Harmony offered, her voice going high and pleading at the end.

"The what?" Spike asked as his head snapped forward and he stared hard at Harmony. Suddenly it was like a very sharp knife had cut through his brain. The broiling mud that was his thoughts became clear, like a glass of cool water.

"Finder's fee," Harmony enunciated.

"No. The other thing. What did you call it?" Spike's voice had an edge to it, and Harmony noticed. She tried hard to get her answer right.

"The jeweled thingy? It's called the Something Cluster. Starts with a D. It's this big deal. Good thing I killed the demon that told me about it, or everyone would know." Harmony smiled pleased with herself.

"Denekari's Cluster. Who has it?" Spike demanded.

"That means you'll help me! Yey!"

As Harmony jumped up and down clapping her hands with glee, Spike just stared at her and focused on being sane.

  


The scaly demon placed the pink bundle by his feet. He sat down in a dark spot between some rocks. He couldn't be late with his delivery, but he was hurt. Though he healed fast, he needed to rest or his wounds would open again. The skinny demon had fooled him into thinking it would be easy to kill. But the long, sharp claws had cut him badly. The scales on half his back were peeled off. Some of his teeth were chipped, mostly in the exposed second row. His mangled leg was the biggest problem. If he could only rest for a little while. And if only that thing he carried would stop making that high, piercing noise.

  


To be continued


	9. Chapter 9: Erudition

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Buffy and the others plan to return the baby. Anya and Halfrek look for the demons. Harmony finds that Spike may not be a reliable partner. The demons are close to getting what they need.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: It's not easy to improve without feedback, so let's have some.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Xander had found a baby as well as a white sock by a scene of a demon fight. Anya recruited Halfrek and they got information from an informant. Harmony got Spike interested in her scheme.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 9: Erudition

  


The baby was asleep on the couch. Dawn was sitting next to him so he couldn't roll off. Xander was trying to find out about the baby on the news. It took some channel flipping, and there he was.

"That's our baby!" Xander exclaimed and Buffy frowned.

There was a video of the baby being held by his mother. She took his hand and made him wave at the camera. Then they showed photographs. One with a duck.

"So cute!" Willow cooed.

"And that's his Dad. Oh no, he's crying," Dawn said as she watched.

They listened as they played part of the statement the parents had made at a press conference. They were asking anyone with information to come forward.

"That's us. They're talking about us. We have information!" Dawn yelled.

"We have the baby," Buffy pointed out looking at him while he slept on the sofa next to Dawn, undisturbed by the noise.

"Look, his Mom and Dad are so scared," Dawn said more quietly, sounding alarmed. She placed a hand on the baby's arm very lightly.

"We can't wait," Willow said her voice deep with emotion but sure.

"No crazy hjinks filled, road trip to LA, then," Xander concluded.

"We leave the baby at the police station. Hospital?" Buffy decided, then looked around for feedback.

"Hospital is better," Willow told her. "They'll want to check him over anyway."

"I'll drop him off," Xander volunteered, "I'm guessing Will will be doing research, and you are going to go after those demon guys," Xander said to Buffy.

"I'll go with Xander, in case he needs a diversion. I can pretend to have a sprained wrist. Or faint," Dawn offered enthusiastically.

"Will the baby be safe there?" Buffy asked.

"We can't wait to let the parents know, they're in agony," Willow said still affected by the pain they saw. Lights shining on them in a room fool of cameras, the parents looked like they were being submerged in anguish. They were sinking into it as their hope faded with every hour.

"I guess if we take care of the demons, the baby will be safe," Buffy said.

"I'll put a protection spell on him," Willow suggested getting up.

"You feel safe to do that?" Xander asked her gingerly.

Willow stopped. She looked hurt for a moment then uncertain. She sat back down, deflated.

"I... did," she said.

"Demons can't get to him in the hospital, plus there'll be cops all over the place," Xander told her with a weak smile.

Willow looked at the sleeping baby, clearly upset that she couldn't protect him.

"Willow..." Buffy started to say but Dawn jumped up from the couch with an idea.

"I'll pretend to have a back injury! That's what all the drug seekers do. They are real hard to diagnose. I saw it on ER," Dawn babbled as she went to get dressed.

"Can anyone here cover bail?" Xander asked.

"No" and "No" were the answers from Buffy and Willow.

"We just won't get caught then," Dawn said cheerfully from the stairs.

  


Things were looking really good there for a second. Spikey-bear had agreed to help her. Yey! But then everything stopped. Or Spike stopped. Like his batteries ran out. Stupid, useless Spike.

They were still in the gross basement, and Harmony had no idea what Spike was waiting for. She had never seen him look worse. He was all scarred and burned and way dirtier than she was. She was kind of glad about that. She hated it when her boyfriends looked prettier than her.

Harmony tried to tell him that time was an issue. The whole baby deal had an expiration date. But he didn't budge. She even tried pushing him, but the only thing that moved were his lips, and he wasn't even saying anything. God, he was so unreliable. Still, she didn't want to face Buffy without help. Even if the help wasn't being helpful.

  


Buffy tuned out the newspeople with their inhuman inflection and tacky wardrobe. The images from the news played in Buffy's mind. Those pictures, even the still ones, played like a movie.

That was it - a normal life. It was all so perfect. There was a mess of toys on the beyond ugly, green carpet as the baby reached his hand toward the camera. There were dirty dishes in the sink behind Dad as he held his little boy to show him off in a tiny Lakers jersey. Mom was in a robe, her hair a frizzy disaster when she said, "Wave to Daddy" in that high voice people use to talk to babies.

Then they were on the news begging to have it all back. Willing to do anything, but stuck helplessly in front of other cameras, pleading, trying to get the words out before their voices stopped working. The Mom looked angry when she was trying not to cry. When she cried, she just looked broken. Like she was thinking the worst.

Willow and Xander were bundling up the baby as Willow gave instructions to Xander not to leave any evidence. They decided to leave behind all the things on which they got their fingerprints. The last thing they did was tuck the blue blanket around the baby as he woke up ready for his trip.

Buffy closed her eyes and pictured a happy reunion. And the movie starting up again like the old film reels. A few dark and glitchy, out of focus frames and back to the home movie with toys and waving. Like nothing bad ever happened.

  


"Learning by rote isn't really learning is it, Spike?" the white haired, old man asked in his indistinct, far off voice.

Spike didn't offer his opinion. He wondered why he had thought he could go where he pleased, do as he liked. What a strange idea to come into his head all of a sudden. It was Harmony - she was a bad influence.

The skinny, white haired, old man spoke, and the body of the other old man in the checkered shirt blocked Spike's path. The white haired, old man was so close, but Spike still couldn't see him clearly. Like reaching for a coin in the water, making the water ripple so you couldn't see to grab it.

Harmony didn't look at the skinny, old man once. Spike looked at her and watched her shift uncomfortably under the pressure of his stare. She knew when someone looked at her too hard. She had eyes. But she didn't see the white haired, old man.

Spike moved his feet. They felt surprising light. They stepped over the dead man and took him out the door and up the stairs and into the cool, dark air. He could smell car exhaust and some kind of tropical tree dropping its flowers so they littered the ground. And he could hear Harmony talking non-stop. She was his compass now. He was royally screwed.

  


The place could be called a wood only in the loosest sense. The trees were sad and misshapen, and a little evil looking. It was mostly dry clumps of grass, some rocks and large bushes. Anya was still trying to justify her own actions as she and Halfrek looked for the demons' hiding place the informant had told them about. Anya suggested that they might even be able to write off this fun, little adventure as a business expense. Anya looked for an opening in the ground. But Halfrek stopped

"How is this vengeance?" Halfrek challenged with her hands on her hips.

"Who among us comes running when a child is mistreated?" Anya retorted ready for her.

"You said the child is safe. I feel no upcoming vengeance."

Anya gave her a dirty look as she stomped her foot in the earth looking for a weak spot.

"Oh, fine, then, it's not vengeance. It's just fun. Plus they are our sworn enemies - it's our duty," Anya said as she kicking away clumps of dirt.

"Remember when we massacred them in Latvia? After they killed Ronnie and got her necklace. Poor, dear, little Ronnie. Those were the days - severed limbs flying everywhere," Halfrek reminisced, looking dreamy.

"Yeah, those were good times," Anya agreed. She remembered Ronnie was a sweet demon with a penchant for roasting people alive. They deserved it, mostly.

Before Halfrek and Anya were done reliving the past, they heard something. They hid behind some bushes and looked around. There was nothing to see yet, but they could hear the sounds of clumsy approach a little ways off.

"This isn't about duty. You have to stop fooling yourself. You're still playing at being on the hero team," Halfrek whispered to Anya as they stood close, hiding.

"Am not," Anya denied indignantly. She couldn't believe it had come to this. Halfrek was her junior. She had looked up to Anya, gushed at her inventiveness, followed her everywhere, copied her wardrobe. Now she was scolding her. Anya had to hurry and get her reputation back before Halfrek's little therapist shtick got to be completely insufferable.

"Then you're playing the hero. Who are you trying to impress?" Halfrek continued.

"Who's here to impress? You? I'm trying to impress you," Anya said dully, trying to put a stop to the lecture.

"Try dealing out some vengeance then."

The nerve. Like vengeance wasn't Anya's reason for being for a thousand years or so. Anya was ready to explode, but Halfrek put a finger to her lips and gave Anya a look reminding her to keep quiet.

"Hey. I have a couple of hundred years of vengeance on you, missy, so watch it," Anya warned her keeping her voice low.

"Not this run. You've only been a vengeance demon for a few months. And you have been impressing no one."

Anya couldn't exactly argue with her recent record. Especially having just reversed a wish. She just wanted Hallie to shut up about it so she could forget that she let Xander talk her into such a backsliding, wishy-washy, career destroying move.

"You are trying to prove all the wrong things to all the wrong people, honey," Halfrek said in a kindly, advice giving voice.

Just then a demon with scales and big feet ran past them. It was limping and carrying something with one arm.

"Ooh. I got something," Halfrek said as she looked after him.

Anya didn't sense anything. Halfrek held her head to one side like she was listening.

"Too young to make a wish, though," Hallie admitted.

Anya then saw two small feet sticking out from the bundle the demon carried.

"Well give it a decade. It won't get any older and wish enabled if it's sacrificed," Anya pointed out.

Halfrek shrugged and they followed the scaly demon through the sparse woods as he carried a child with one white sock.

  


For a long time the only movement was the slight stirring of air where the tunnel widened into their sacred space. Excitement surged through them when they heard it - irregular footsteps high above, getting closer. There were other footsteps too, but those weren't of any interest. They had traps for their kind. It was the big feet, off balance, not the usual stride, but still recognizable. They all stood up at once and prepared themselves.

  


To be continued


	10. Chapter 10: Censure

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Xander and Dawn are on their way to the hospital. Willow, Anya and Buffy struggle with their limitations. The demon lair is found.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: It's not easy to improve without feedback, so let's have some.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Xander had found a baby as well as a white sock by a scene of a demon fight. Anya recruited Halfrek. Harmony and Spike teamed up.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 10: Censure

  


Xander, Dawn, and the baby had gone to the hospital in Xander's car. Dawn was eager and full of energy. It was making Xander nervous, or more nervous. Willow watched them go and waved. She knew Dawn and the baby could take care of themselves, she worried about Xander.

When Willow went back into the house she saw that Buffy had stacked books on the table. She had gotten bottled water for herself and for Willow.

"I'd flip you for computer research, but all I ever seem to find is porn," Buffy explained as she settled and cracked the first volume.

"Really?" Willow tried for convincingly shocked but Buffy didn't buy it. She did research on the computer while Buffy searched the books for references to jewels and baby sacrifices. There were lots of those.

"Baby sacrifices never go out of style, do they? Remind me to kill more demons," Buffy said to Willow, not looking up from the books.

Willow was finding the same thing - lots of disturbing demon practices and ugly jewelry but nothing that matched up with their case.

"You're doing your part unlike some witches that shall remain useless," Willow mumbled leaving it up to Buffy if she wanted to hear it or not. Buffy heard.

"I hope you're not talking about anyone I know. Because my best friend is a witch, and she is damn useful. She just has to take it easy for a while."

Willow smiled at the sweetness of the defense. It sounded sort of automatic. Like 'don't mess with my Willow bla bla bla'. It was still nice to hear after everything. Willow had missed having her best friend around. Giles just didn't know how to have a nice, easy, girl to girl chat. It was probably because he was British.

"Sure. So what's this thing with you being all 'get thee behind me, baby'?" Willow asked since Buffy had somehow managed to resist the cutest baby in the world.

"It's taunting me," Buffy said without raising her eyes from her book.

"The baby?"

"Yeah, it's all, 'check out my cute self, you'll never have this, bitch'." Buffy did some weird arm movements when she said it.

"Such advanced rudeness from a baby. And he doesn't even know you," Willow joked and hid behind the computer monitor.

Buffy lifted one of the smaller volumes from her research pile as if she was going to throw it. But then she looked thoughtful.

"It's my 'just say no to babies policy.' I guess I just don't want a taste of something I can't have," Buffy said putting the book down.

"Who says?" Willow said like she was ready to fight whoever it was.

"All the Slayers who came before me, and all the Watchers, and my own history of dying every few years. It's bound to stick one of these times," Buffy said with a shrug.

Willow couldn't really argue. But she couldn't agree either. Buffy had already defied prophecies and Watchers and death, even. She could defy precedent and history in her sleep, give them a head start and with one hand tied behind her back. After everything fell away, Willow still had loads of faith in Buffy.

"I'm not saying buy a bassinet, just don't scratch it off your to do list yet," Willow told her.

Buffy only frowned. There were all these open doors and she didn't see them. But Willow wasn't sure if she should be encouraging that one dream when it might turn out to be a delusion. It was the giving up attitude that bugged her most. She saw Buffy bury herself in another book so Willow went back to researching.

  


With Dawn and the baby hiding in the back of his car, Xander drove obeying every traffic rule he still remembered from driver's ed. Complete stops, a turn signal at every turn, keep to the speed limit, or a little under to make sure. All he needed was a Kidnapped Baby On Board sign.

And with all that, he still found room in his brain to worry about Buffy's weird baby allergy. Way to waste precious brain space worrying about someone who could beat up an army of demons, and an occasional god. Maybe she was turning into some kind of superslayer. Or that could be the comic books talking.

Actually, things were great compared to last year. But they pretty much had to be. That's why Xander was watchful for signs of backsliding. In the old days, it used to be Buffy Summers by day, Slayer before curfew. Now Buffy Summers was more the shadowy alter ego. She was leaving her old self behind just like she did the May Queen thing, and cheerleading, and wanting to be a firefighter. When she shed these fun, little outfits, it was bye, bye normal life, hello full time creature of the night.

Xander heard tires screech behind him as he made an unexpected stop when the traffic light barely turned yellow.

"What? No apologetic wave?" Dawn asked. "Buffy is always giving the apologetic wave. She drives like a total spaz. Have you been taking lessons from her?"

"Don't want to attract attention," Xander explained absently. He didn't even look in the rear view mirror - he'd seen the one fingered salute before. And he would again. Probably this very night if he kept driving like a spaz.

"Good job," Dawn spoke the words of praise every driver dreams of hearing, but she didn't mean them.

"Sarcasm is a nasty habit, Dawn. It'll stunt your growth."

"I'm taller than you," Dawn said.

"Shut up! You are not!"

"At least we weren't rear ended," Dawn said not sounding appreciative of his defensive driving style.

On that note, Xander wished for a baby car seat. Since he didn't have one, he resolved to drive even more safely. Really, how hard could it be to get a baby from point A to point B? Well, much harder than he thought when he volunteered. Maybe Buffy was onto something. Babies looked harmless, but they were terrifying. It was like smuggling dynamite, or plutonium, or pot.

Buffy didn't need any more thrills. It was demons every night and apocalypse on the weekends. She hadn't had a solid foothold on a normal, boring life since Xander had known her. It was more like she had been standing on the edge on her tiptoes, like when divers want to spring off the board. Every now and then she would slip up and die. It robbed her of her balance. She lost her land legs, and now she just floated above water like a bloated corpse.

Oh, gruesome and unwelcome image, be gone. He didn't need to think about Buffy as a corpse. He had handled her dead body. Held the legs while Giles held her arms gently setting her in the coffin. You can't not worry after that. And she couldn't be the same. It was too much to expect. But Xander expected it anyway.

Someone honked behind him as Xander had stopped too long at the intersection. Where were they in a hurry to go? Did they have a kidnapped baby to return? Unlikely!

"Hold your horsepowers, buddy," Xander said then looked in the rear view mirror. "Or lady," he corrected himself.

"People should slow down. Unless there is a woman in labor in the back seat, there is no reason to disobey the speed limit or the rules of the road," Xander lectured Dawn, the baby, and the lady driver who was passing him.

Dawn snorted doubting his sincerity.

"Xander, you've driven me before," she reminded him.

"I've seen the light - the red, the green, and yes, the ambiguous yellow - life is too short to hurry," Xander explained.

Xander expected Buffy to have a short life. And when she died, he expected to stop worrying about her. Instead, he had had to agonize about what kind of hell she got stuck in for saving the world. Good thing his other best friend could bring people back from the dead. Sometimes. And destroy the Earth when she felt like it.

Maybe he didn't need to worry about worrying too much. It was only a few months ago, he was in the ambulance while Buffy was bleeding, leaving Willow behind on the edge. He should worry more. Maybe quit his job and do it full time. Instead of getting more settled, things got more unsettled, weirder, and harder to take. Even when it got better, Xander knew that nothing could be trusted. And he didn't trust himself when it came down to it. Xander. In the kitchen. With a frying pan. Fake vision or not, that was definitely something to worry about.

Xander thought about the kid in the back of his car and how crazy people were to take that on. He had opted out. 'No thanks, I'll just coast along with the brain numbing worries I already have.' Hey, Buffy had the right idea after all. Good for her.

  


Halfrek and Anya followed after the limping demon with the baby under his arm and arrived at an opening in the ground. After the demon disappeared inside, the two of them came close and peered down into the hole. It was dark and the tunnel slanted down at a steep angle.

"It's too small. We'll just materialize inside. Give them a scare," Halfrek said not liking the idea of undignified crawling underground.

"We don't know what's in there. We don't want to startle them," Anya cautioned as she got down for a better look into the hole.

"I want to startle them." Halfrek said not understanding Anya's objection. Then she remembered Anya's traveling restriction. "Oh, that's right you have to fill out forms."

"I don't want to be buried in paperwork. But it's not just that. They might do something drastic," Anya insisted weakly pointing down into the hole in a silly, alarmist way.

Halfrek closed her eyes in exasperation. Anya ignored her as she craned her head to examine the tunnel as far as she could see.

It scared Halfrek that this could happen to Anyanka, of all demons. But there was no denying it - Anyanka wasn't the demon she had once known. That was a fearless creature who showed no mercy and did not worry about consequences. On the contrary, the worse they were the better Anyanka liked it. An unexpected tragedy would have been a welcomed bonus.

Halfrek had tried to adjust and be supportive of Anya's human doings - the wedding, the silly business venture. But none of that could compare to well wrought vengeance. She expected Anya to get a taste of it and get back to twisting the simplest wish into its most gruesome permutation. But Anya dragged herself around not being the least bit awesome or terrifying.

At least, she was in top form. In fact, at that very moment, Halfrek could sense something underground, calling to her.

"I'm getting more of that vibe. It's the baby that demon just carried in," Halfrek said astonished and delighted that something so young could muster up a speck of vengefulness.

"Are you really telling me that a baby is crying for vengeance?" Anya asked, disbelieving.

"It's mostly just crying. But it's mightily pissed," Halfrek assured her. Anya rolled her eyes. She didn't understand the joy of watching vengeance bloom in a young heart. Seeing the first wisps of screaming rage light up a sleepy, little face of an erstwhile innocent angel.

"Let's get in there," Anya said impatiently as if she was ready for action. That would be a nice change of pace.

"Ooh, let's," Halfrek agreed. There was nothing she wanted more than to see Anyanka back in good form, her old self, not this washed up demon with all the weaknesses of humanity still trailing from her like bad smell from a corpse. Halfrek waved her arms preparing to teleport but Anya stopped her.

"We're walking," Anya said as she climbed down into the hole.

  


to be continued


	11. Chapter 11: Purpose

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Buffy finds a use for Harmony. Halfrek and Anya make progress underground. Willow tries to adjust to the way things are.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: It's not easy to improve without feedback, so let's have some.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Xander had found a baby by a scene of a demon fight. Anya recruited Halfrek. Harmony enlisted Spike.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 11: Purpose

  


"I have them!" Willow exclaimed feeling very helpful again. "Michila Demons. Baby sacrifice based on day of birth plus jewely thingy. We have bingo!"

"You rule!" Buffy yelled and almost knocked over her bottle of water endangering the rare demonology books, but caught it in time. Willow was almost completely absorbed in her discovery, but her inner bibliophile still frowned at Buffy before she started to read from the research.

"Let's see. 'Subjects of the Denekari Beast.' It's just your usual, giant, underground dwelling, snake beastie," Willow explained as she read. "'Michila demons are the guardians of Denekari's Cluster.' That's a conglomeration of jewels. I can't believe they were giving this thing away. It's way powerful." Willow scowled at the computer screen. What she saw didn't make sense.

"Hmm, I think Harmony got it wrong. Big surprise. The jeweled thingy is an offering to this beastie. 'Each Cluster comes along decades after the last. Generations of Michila demons are dedicated to guarding them at all costs'," Willow read out loud.

"Maybe it's a cheap knockoff," Buffy said as she came to look over her shoulder.

"Maybe it's a scam. They get the baby sacrifice, the sacrifice provider gets bubkus."

"How despicable. If you can't trust baby sacrificers, who can you trust?" Buffy quipped.

Willow kept reading as fast as her eyes would let her, skipping over all the useless trivia. Who cares if they are hermaphrodites. Hierarchy, hatching rituals, whatever.

"So, where can I find these Michelin Demons," Buffy said sounding a little impatient.

Willow considering the image of the Michelin Man as a demon. Then she made a mental note to research Michelin Man's possible demonic origins and corrected Buffy.

"Michila. There is nothing on their location. They use the baby's blood ... Bastards! ... to call the Denekari Beast to them and it appears wherever they are. Basically any dank, dark place will do."

"You got a list of those?" Buffy asked.

Willow kept searching but it didn't look promising. Mentions of caves and holes in the ground, a mine shaft, that kind of thing.

"Harmony was taking the baby to them," Buffy said with a shrug.

"Xander said she was lost," Willow remembered.

"She probably can't follow directions. But maybe with some help," Buffy said and she got ready to go. She got her jacket, made sure she had her stake and she was all set.

"I just have to put on my shoes and I'm ready," Willow said as she started to get up from the chair.

"You want to come? Can you, ah, do anything?" Buffy asked obviously cringing at the sound of what she said.

"What do you mean? Oh." Willow sat back down with a sense of deja vu.

In the rush of the familiar research, Willow had felt like her old self. But she wasn't. She could tell Buffy was trying to soft-pedal it, but there really was no way to do that.

"I know you always helped out before you were a witch. I mean, you helped lots. But now, maybe it would be better to keep you away from temptation. Something could go wrong and..." Buffy didn't finish. She just looked at Willow apologetically. Her eyes were asking Willow to understand. And she did.

So many things could go wrong, mostly her. Willow had already made herself invisible without meaning to. She didn't know what would happen if she used magic deliberately, in a crisis.

"You're right. Plus Denekari's Cluster is some powerful juju. I better stay away," Willow agreed.

"I'm sorry, Will. But you helped bunches already."

Willow had helped the way she did in the old days. But she wasn't that Willow - powerless and only useful in geeky things. She had taken huge strides in the years since then. Then a thousand giant leaps backward. She was no more useful than she used to be and possibly more dangerous than any demons that Buffy was likely to face.

"I better go help Xander and Dawn not get arrested," Willow said trying not to sound too glum.

"Sorry, Will."

Willow put on a smile then turned away, not sure how long she could keep it there.

"I'll print out some of this stuff."

"Thanks."

Willow busied herself with the printing. She kept her back turned not wanting to make Buffy feel bad with her 'I skinned a guy and now no one trusts me' pouting.

  


Halfrek and Anya walked bent over through the tunnel too small to let them walk upright. It went down almost vertically, but the small space allowed them to hold on and keep from tumbling forward. Ahead of them they could hear the faint, echoing cries of the baby.

"I think I can hear it. We better hurry up," Anya said as she tried to pick up her pace but that almost made her lose her footing. As some lose dirt rolled down, she slowed again. Halfrek didn't seem to notice. She had her head tilted to one side because she was listening - and because she couldn't hold her head up straight.

"It's not a pleasing sound. And to think you were going to saddle yourself with one of those," Halfrek observed as the baby's cries were even more audible to her due to her infantile vengeance fixation. For someone who made kids in distress her specialty, she didn't seem to like them much.

"It's a human thing. I was human," Anya said brusquely. She was really sick of Hallie's carping. While she was human she made horrible, human mistakes. It had nothing to do with her now.

"Well, you didn't have to wallow in it? Marriage. Didn't you get enough drudgery and domestic chores on your first go around as a human being? And that was when they still beat laundry against rocks," Halfrek said sounding horrified.

"We didn't beat laundry against rocks. We used a washboard. And I didn't chose to be human or to suffer from human defects," Anya said lowering her voice as they got closer to their goal. She couldn't wait for the slaughter to start just to put an end the conversation with the subject of how Anya isn't the vengeance demon she used to be.

"You were suffering from temporary humanity. I understand," Halfrek said but she didn't sound like she understood. "But you've been cured." Halfrek spoke in a stern but low voice.

Anya didn't turn, but she could picture her smug 'I'm being strict for your own good' expression. It wasn't like Hallie didn't have a point. Anya just wasn't all there. She was turned around. It was all the looking backwards - it had her twisted like a pretzel and feeling all the wrong things. She was supposed to be the embodiment of vengeance not a sullen bureaucrat filling out forms and watching the clock. Instead of feeling sharp and powerful, she was squishy with uncertainty and regret. She was turning into Buffy, Anya realized and stumbled again. She straightened quickly.

"I'm getting back into it. You'll see," Anya promised. And she would see, everyone would. She was going to do something spectacular. She was just waiting for the right wronged party, that was all.

"I hope so, sweetie. Ow, I think my back is going to get stuck this way," Halfrek complained, bent over uncomfortably as she followed after Anya.

  


In the cemetery, Buffy had found Xander's cut up belt by the tree and no Harmony. It was only a little worrying to have Harmony on the loose. Unless she got some help.

"And what helpful soul does Harmony know around here?" Buffy had asked obviously knowing the answer. "Her currently crazy, former boyfriend." Buffy headed to the high school at a brisk pace.

Buffy stopped. She was close to the high school when she saw Spike's and Harmony's blond heads making their way through the dark parking lot. She followed them, keeping out of sight. Harmony's high voice carried to her almost the whole time. She couldn't hear Spike, but he jumped at nothing. A few times Harmony had to pull him back as he started to go off in the wrong direction or just stopped.

Spike stopped again, and Harmony couldn't budge him. He stared all around. Buffy got close and she could hear him.

"She is everywhere," he said.

"Whatever. Be freaky and obsessive after you get me the cluster thingy. You owe me. I don't see why we're going empty handed anyway. We were supposed to get the kid. This is your stupid plan, so move it!" Harmony yelled the last part in an almost authoritative voice.

"Yes, Miss. I was just daydreaming. So sorry," Spike said his voice meek and childlike.

"I didn't know you could be so polite," Harmony said, pleased, "Now, shift your ass."

But Spike turned away again and he seemed to be looking right at the spot where Buffy stood out of sight. Not wanting to waste any more time, Buffy revealed herself.

"It stabs you through the eyes," Spike said pointing at Buffy. The burns on his face and neck were healing fast, hardly visible in the dark. But there were new wounds on top of the old ones.

"So, where are we going?" Buffy asked cheerfully after giving Spike only a passing glance.

Harmony looked like she was about to run so Buffy hurried over and grabbed a hold of her.

"We were just strolling, you know, former lovebirds catching up," Harmony said lamely as she tried to get out of Buffy's grip. She failed and gave out a nervous laugh.

"Sounds nice. Can I come?" Buffy's sweet voice was in contrast to the way she pushed Harmony in the direction where they had been heading.

"This night sucks. I knew I shouldn't have come back here. You suck!" she finished speaking to Spike who was ignoring her.

Buffy looked back to see that Spike seemed to be trying to dig through the pavement. Considering that he might be a liability, she decided not to ask him to come along.

  


Once Buffy left, Willow felt the oppressive emptiness of the house driving her out. She left quickly. Outside wasn't much better. The night air smelled familiar - lawns and a tree in Buffy's neighbor's yard that gave off its strongest scent at night.

Startled when someone's sprinklers came on, Willow kept walking. The normal fear she should have been feeling had been replaced by something she thought must be unique to her - a fear of herself over anyone or anything else. What would she do if someone or something attacked her? Buffy was right to keep her away from the action.

There were always little things threatening to trigger her magic reflexes. A tiny grease fire when she made eggs; when the power went out for just a minute; when she dropped the pretty, glass paperweight Tara liked. Tara said it looked like someone had caught a star inside it. There were little air bubbles in it and when it fell it broke neatly in two.

But Willow was afraid to think about Tara too much. She rationed her memories so the feelings wouldn't overwhelm her. As Willow went by a fence, a dog started barking and Willow forced herself not to react.

  


to be continued


	12. Chapter 12: Guidance

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: 

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Time is running out as the demon delivers the second child. Buffy forces Harmony to help her.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: It's not easy to improve without feedback, so let's have some.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Xander and Dawn were on their way to return the child. Two demons fought over a baby. One was killed, the other wounded. The wounded demon was seen by Halfrek and Anya, entering a tunnel. Buffy found a use for Harmony.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 12: Guidance

  


Trying to squirrel her way out of helping Buffy, Harmony claimed that she only knew about the buyer, a demon that acted as the middle man, or a "middle demon" as Harmony called him. Buffy made her lead the way to where she was supposed to meet him.

Buffy had the familiar feeling of 'been there, patrolled that' as they went to the same cemetery she and Xander had crisscrossed earlier that night. Harmony led her through the graves and close to the edge of the cemetery. Harmony waved around vaguely into the overgrown area beyond the graves.

"Somewhere out here. But he was a no-show," Harmony said and then tried to leave.

Buffy sighed and took Harmony by the back of her shirt to where Buffy had hidden the body of the demon she and Xander had discovered.

"Is this your buyer?" Buffy asked her.

Harmony wrinkled her face and shook her head. She said the demon was supposed to be more lizardy, "less skinny chicken-looking." After covering up the body again, Buffy sighed and turned to Harmony. It looked like Harmony was a dead end, and dead was the operative word.

Harmony must have seen something in the look Buffy was giving her and the stake she was pulling out of her belt, because she decided to become extra helpful. Noticing the two kinds of blood drying on the ground, Harmony scampered around after the drops of dark green blood as they got smaller and smaller. From there Harmony followed the trail of blood Buffy couldn't see. She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose and complained.

"You would think a super-smelling vampire nose would be like a big bonus or something, but it's a big bummer. Sinking your teeth into someone with BO, that can almost kill your appetite. And when some lady's cheap perfume goes right up your nose as you go to bite down, it's the pits," Harmony said as she led the way through the trees and the brush.

Buffy poked her with the stake.

"Hey, I'm cooperating here," Harmony whined.

"Try shutting up," Buffy told her curtly. "And walk up wind. You stink." Even without a vampire nose, Buffy could tell that Harmony smelled like one of those things you find in the back of the refrigerator and can't identify.

"It's not my fault. The baby puked on me," Harmony said and showed Buffy a particularly nasty spot on her shirt.

"It was probably in self defense, you kidnapper." Buffy wasn't wasting her sympathy on Harmony's ruined wardrobe. She looked like a tacky sherbet someone dropped in the dirt, though the strappy shoes probably hadn't been bad at one time.

  


Xander was driving like he was eighty - dead slowly, sitting extra straight, his hands high on the wheel. Dawn was scrunched in the back seat with the baby. She had a limited view. She could see half of Xander between the front seats and the tops of buildings trough the car windows.

Dawn turned to the baby. Watching the child's placid face as she held him, Dawn concluded that baby life was the good life. You don't have to lift a finger, no chores, food delivered straight to your mouth. Dawn considered that she had never really been a baby. She got gypped.

Buffy and her Mom had remembered Dawn as a baby though. Now it was just Buffy. And her Dad, Dawn guessed. Her Mom had even remembered Dawn's birth. Now that was gone. That's why you need your Mom, she wanted to say to the baby. Moms remember all that stuff no one else does.

And if no one remembers it, it's like it never happened. Maybe if no one remembered Dawn, she would disappear. Dawn started to count in her head all the people who knew her. As she held the baby's hand, she ran her thumb over the chubby, wrinkled palm. This little piggy went to England, this little piggy...

"Why didn't Giles come back with Willow?" Dawn asked Xander suddenly.

"Maybe because he lives in England now," Xander answered after a pause, surprised by the question.

Dawn knew that. But Giles lived here too. Well, not in the sense that he had an apartment or a house here. Or a business. It had been turned to a pile of rubble. Then the rubble was cleared. Now the Magic Box was just a gap in the storefronts. With nothing to hold him here, Dawn thought Giles might turn into that guy you never see, who stops calling and only sends a postcard sometimes.

"So he's not coming back," Dawn said wanting to know where things stood - if she should start to write him off.

"I don't know," Xander told her keeping his eyes on the road.

"If he didn't come back with Willow..." Dawn pressed.

"Maybe it was a vote of confidence. 'You can hop on a transatlantic flight all by yourself, little trooper' kind of thing," Xander told her as he glanced in the rear view mirror.

"Or 'I'm not getting on a plane with you, you ticking time bomb of evil magic' kind of thing'." Dawn's words sounded bitchy even to her. Xander didn't say anything, but he looked like he was a little shocked that she had said that.

"You know she can crash a plane. If she can destroy the world, she can dump a measly Concord into the Atlantic," Dawn insisted knowing she was right and that Xander knew it, but feeling disloyal nevertheless.

"Are you really worried?" Xander asked her.

"I don't know. It's Willow, but... I don't know," Dawn said, fidgeting a little in the cramped space between the seats.

"No one can give you a guarantee, not me or Giles."

"Or Willow," Dawn added.

Dawn looked at the baby. He was turning his head like he wanted to see where they were going. He was safe now, and he was going home. As they went under streetlights, there was a slow strobe effect. It was alternately light then dark in the car and the baby blinked at the change.

  


Willow could have been at the hospital already - if she flew or maybe just popped over there. It used to be so exhilarating to feel the air rush around her, to look down on all the things held to the ground, to find yourself in a different place within seconds. The thrill of it... wasn't something she wanted to dwell on as she walked. Cars would pass her occasionally. Their headlights blinding her for a second then disappearing down the street. That's what she should be thinking of as the ultimate mode of transportation. But that was for pedestrians, people who didn't have the option of flight and instant magical transportation. And she had to remember that's who she was now too. She had to force herself to stay on the ground, to take steps and cross streets, and let cars speed past her.

Harmony and her nose had led Buffy into a sparsely wooded area. As they walked, Buffy held a stake to her back in case Harmony started telling her how being a vampire sucked and how the victims sometimes made things so difficult for a poor, single vampire in the big city.

Making them stop now and then, Buffy would listen. She was sure they were being followed. Once she had heard a shrill laugh. From that she guessed it was Spike.

Unfortunately, Harmony was getting more uncertain the further they went. Judging by the extra vacant and confused expression on her face, Buffy didn't think it was a ploy.

"Damn it, Harmony, why did you have to get the attack of the stupids now!"

"It's not me. It's not my fault the guy stopped bleeding. And it's windy."

There was a breeze. It cooled the air and skimmed over the dirt and bushes. Buffy looked around, but she didn't see any sign of the demon whose trail they were following or anything that would tell her which way to go next. She pictured the next baby on the demon menu, and she got anxious.

The area was blank. The wind passed over the dry dirt and the little trees without making much noise. Buffy walked around aimlessly for a bit dragging Harmony along and telling her to try to pick up the blood trail again.

Just then, Spike brushed past them and started to crawl in the dirt. At first Buffy thought it was more of his insanity, but then he stopped and reached his hand into an opening in the ground that Buffy hadn't seen. Buffy ran over and looked into a tunnel leading down.

  


Dawn gazed at the baby who gazed back, without any expression, but not in a bad way. More like a nice, clean notebook at the start of school. The child's eyes were big and open on his smooth face with its tiny nose and mouth. They were calm and clear, and Dawn thought that no matter how long she looked she would never see anything bad in them. It was weird to think that everyone started out like that - little, soft, helpless, bundles of baby innocence. Except those who started out as big, glowing, bundles of world endangering energy.

Dawn knew all about putting the world in danger. Hey, it could happen to anyone. Willow went off the deep end. Fine. The killing of Warren didn't phase Dawn either. People like him and like those who wanted to hurt the tiny baby she was holding deserved whatever pissed off witches could dish out. But she didn't know why Willow had turned on her friends. Maybe there was something in it she didn't get yet. Something about losing a lover. And not understanding Willow didn't make her feel safer around her.

Maybe Xander could tell her about the difference. But she didn't want to ask. Willow's pain was just different. Dawn couldn't touch it, not with her pain, not with anything. There was a gulf between her and Willow now. It made her miss Tara even more.

"Tara was solid," Dawn told Xander.

"Like a rock." Xander agreed automatically.

"Like you," Dawn said and Xander took his eyes off the road for a second to turn his head and look at her.

Everyone else had this weirdness, like they were not just one person. Willow and a super powerful, black eyed witch. Buffy the sister and Buffy the Slayer. Tara was just Tara and she wasn't going to turn into this other thing. Everyone needs people who are just one thing. Like Mom.

Dawn missed Anya too. Even if she had turned back into her other self. But she didn't say anything about that to Xander. She didn't want it to sound like blame. The two of them - another thing that wouldn't stay solid. Dawn didn't like the way her world was shrinking. It was because her world was so small that people were falling off. One day it would be just her, a sheep, a rose, and a tree.

Xander let her be thoughtful for a while before he turned on the radio and started singing along, making up the lyrics he didn't know. Dawn rolled her eyes and told the baby not to listen as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

  


Finally, it had arrived carried by that filthy, damaged thing. The demons gathered around and examined the human child. It looked healthy and as ugly as all the others, nothing like their own offspring. It made the usual noise as they prodded it. So did the demon that brought it. He complained of his wounds and asked for more jewels. They could all smell the blood drying on him. His noise and his stench disrupted their sacred cave. They all drew closer around him.

The scaly demon became more agitated as he sensed the change around him. He clutched the few inferior stones that were his payment. They were the stones not good enough for the offering. He asked for more. But the human child he had obtained was already in their hands. His demands were ignored and he was surrounded. He tried to convince them of his value. It was no use. They could smell his blood, his pain and weakness. The scales that hadn't been ripped off his body trembled in warning.

to be continued


	13. Chapter 13: Engagement

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: 

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Anya and Halfrek fight the demons. Spike struggles against his insanity. Buffy joins the fight.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: It's not easy to improve without feedback, so let's have some.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Xander and Dawn were on their way to return the child. Buffy forced Harmony to help her. A demon delivered another baby to the cult. Anya and Halfrek were close.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 13: Engagement

  
  


The tunnel opened up into a cavern with a high ceiling. Shadows flickered on the walls and ceiling cast by burning pools of oil in stone pots. Loose rocks had been moved off to the side making a central clearing. Pedestals and an alter made of stacked, gray stone had been arranged in the space. As Anya and Halefreck hid in the shadows, watching, the scaly demon demanded his reward for the baby. His strange, squealy language was drowned out as the child's cries filled the space.

About two dozen gray demons with bald heads, mouthless faces, slick skin, and arms that looked like two snake tails, stood around covered with elaborately decorated cloaks that hid most of their smooth, unattractive bodies. One of them held a child, about the same age as the one Xander had found. This one was a girl, if one judged by the pink outfit. She had dark curls and skin and kicked unhappily as the demon's arms coiled around her holding her in place.

A demon dressed in the most elaborate robes had his back turned to the scaly demon. The demon in fancy robes opened a case with several large, curved knives. He chose one unhurriedly as Anya and Halfrek watched. Suddenly, the gray demon turned and beheaded the scaly demon with three quick slashes. The complaining squeals stopped.

Halfrek and Anya ducked back to make sure they couldn't be seen. The body fell and the head rolled away from it. The blood that spouted out of the scaly neck and the head joined into one dark green pool on the cavern floor. Not far from it, a dead hand opened and released the payment in jewels. Two demons bent down and scooped up the jewels that had fallen out by curling the ends of their snaky arms around them. None of the stones were from vengeance demons, of course. These were obviously flawed and unworthy leftovers. The sight of them still reminded Anya of why they were there.

"Let's just go in and rip them up," Anya suggested. But as she moved to go, Halfrek stopped her.

"The baby," Halfrek reminded her.

Anya groaned at the reversal. As Halfrek and Anya watched, the main demon took the baby and placed her onto the alter made of stone. It had a deep indentation where the baby fit perfectly. It was almost like a stone cradle.

"Damn it, you're going soft over a potential, future client," Anya complained but held back. She remembered the box of knives.

"I take a long view. And you are the one who has gone soft," Halfrek retorted as she watched the ceremony.

The baby was surrounded by three demons who made signs in the air over it. Another demon approached and spilled something on the baby making it shriek.

Halfrek didn't wait for Anya - she rushed in and shoved some demons out of her way. She grabbed the arm of the demon that held the ceremonial cup. The arm came off his body, making the cup fly and bluish gray blood spurt out of the demon's stump.

Briefly, Hallie turned back to Anya and asked, "Is this soft?" Her face dropped its human mask. Her voice became deep and rough. She still held the snake arm she had detached from the demon. It coiled feebly in her grip a few last times and dripped blood until Hallie dropped it with disgust. Anya rolled her eyes. But she also felt a surge of the vengeance demon inside her. She let her own human face fall.

While Halfrek was turned, three other demons encircled her. Their twining arms took hold of her. One of the arms snaked over to grab for her necklace. An enraged growl escaped Hallie's throat. She kicked the demon going for her necklace, making it let go of her and crash into a stone pedestal. The others still held on. But Halfrek was already getting loose as Anya joined her.

Anya threw one of Hallie's attackers into a wall. It went down stunned. Halfrek killed another by repeatedly hitting its bald head against a rock. As the last of the three demons stood over the baby, Anya grabbed him. His twisting arms made things hard for her until she got hold of them and ripped them off.

"I'd forgotten how their arms just pop off," Anya said still holding a pair in her hands. Halfrek smiled at her. The veins on her face were splattered with blue-gray blood.

As the two vengeance demons turned, they saw the rest of the demons move to surround them. Then one from the back went flying right over the others. His head made a sickening noise as it hit a wall.

"Hey, moonlighting vengeance demons, what's this? Don't tell me. You guys were bored and decided to step all over my slaying to pass the time?" Buffy said as she kicked and shoved her way through the demons to the baby.

"See, even she knows it's just boredom, nothing human about it," Anya said to Halfrek, feeling vindicate. Halfrek only looked blood-splattered and disdainful.

  


The breeze barely stirred the dry grass. Spike's hand had reached through it into nothing. Then further in and he held a handful of dirt. A handful to throw on his coffin.

"It's an ugly thing. It does no good," Spike had told Buffy from the ground, his dirty hand to his chest. He looked up at her, but her eyes turned away, and she looked at the hole he had found. He wanted to tell her what's what. But before he could find the right words, Buffy went past him and down into the rabbit hole. He was left alone with Harmony.

"Are you talking about your, you know, wiener doggy?" Harmony asked him grimacing. "I mean, it's not pretty, but it's not supposed to be pretty. It's not for decoration, you know. And I've seen way worse. Some demons..."

Spike laughed - a jagged sound that hurt his insides as it bounced around. It was no use trying to make himself heard. Everything that came out of him was twisted. It all turned and spoiled and couldn't be recognized.

Buffy's eyes had closed a little when he had spoken of his soul, before she turned away. She didn't want to have to look at him. And he didn't want to have to look at her, the stuck up priss. But he had no choice - he was searching her face for something. He had to look until he found it.

Harmony was making noise but he didn't listen to her bleating. A hazy thing lurked in the dark just out of his sight. Flitting from shadow to shadow. Bleeding in then bleeding out and reforming into a shape he didn't want to recognize.

Spike squeezed his eyes shut, but he still saw things - Buffy looking down on him, wanting to close her eyes to him; the old, white haired geezer, his lips moving; and the tunnel he had unearthed, widening, its darkness spreading. The old man's lips made words like he was shaping them out of the black air, molding the air with his mouth. Spike didn't want to listen. He went headlong down the tunnel, like a dive into nothingness.

  


Xander and Dawn sat in the car parked not far from the hospital, with the headlights off. Dawn was wedged in between the front and back seat holding the baby and keeping out of sight. Xander didn't turn as he spoke to her.

"This baby has been on the news," Xander said considering the best way to get them into the hospital without being arrested. Xander hadn't expected so much light and so little action. It was too quiet for them to go in without being noticed. He expected more bustle. Maybe an ambulance full of bus crash victims to provide cover. Like on the good episodes of ER.

"It's a famous baby," Dawn agreed.

"If we're seen with him, we're are..."

"Screwed," Dawn finished not even bothering to cover the baby's ears.

"Language! You'll corrupt the baby."

In the back, the baby made some kind of giggly, baby noise. Maybe Dawn was tickling him.

"We need to hide him," Xander said wondering if anyone would notice if he just stuck the baby under his jacket.

"We can put him in the duffel bag," Dawn suggested seeing one was on the back seat.

"Is that safe?" Xander wondered.

"We won't close it," Dawn said as she sniffed the bag.

Xander didn't hear an "eww". So it must not have been too bad. He only kept a change of clothes in there in case he had to make himself presentable on short notice after dirty, sweaty type work.

"What if he cries?" As Xander just knew he was going to.

"Then we're screw... drivers," Dawn said with some quick editing.

They placed the baby in the bag, on top of Xander's clothes, keeping the bag half unzipped. The baby cried for a little bit, but then he fell asleep. Xander carried the bag toward the hospital entrance careful not to let anyone bump into it.

  


Harmony stomped her foot in frustration. First, Spike was babbling about his frankensteinfurter not being pretty, then he was laughing, then he was pinching his eyes shut. Then all of a sudden he jumped into the hole and ditched her.

"I'm supposed to get the jewely cluster thingy," Harmony wailed down into the hole. That was before Xander Harris stole her baby, and Buffy hijacked her to use her as a guide dog.

"I'm not a dog! I want my jewely thingy!" She shouted, finally getting enough courage to follow Spike. Feet first, she scrambling down the hole while squealing.

  


Recovering quickly from Buffy's surprise attack, the demons surged forward. Buffy started to choke as a demon wrapped its arms around her neck. Another demon came at her with the end of its snake arm wrapped around a knife. She kicked the knife out of his grip, sent it flying then caught it in mid air and cut away the arms that were strangling her.

"Look at you with the fancy moves," Halfrek said condescendingly. Anya could tell that she wasn't pleased to have Buffy horning in on their fun.

Halfrek punched a demon that Anya pushed her way and smiled at Buffy in that fake country club way. Buffy grabbed a demon and pushed him to Halfeck. Buffy then focused on keeping the rest away from the baby.

"Do you think D'Hoffryn would like to have Denekari's Cluster as a memento?" Halfrek asked Anya as she used a demon's arms to swing him into another.

"Kiss ass!" Anya said, mad that she didn't think of it first. She was also struggling as two demons entwined their arms with hers and held her immobile. Her arms were outstretched and hurting.

Halfrek grabbed a knife from a demon and threw it at one of the demons giving Anya so much trouble. It sank into the soft looking flesh of its middle. Without seeming to have much effect, it stayed embedded there. The two demons started to move apart as if trying to rip Anya in two.

"He'll just use it as a paperweight," Anya said feeling very uncomfortable.

Buffy was still busy holding off the demons that tried to get to the baby. She used the knife she held to slice at them as they approached. She kicked one's head backward and another in his middle.

"I regret to inform you that tonight's performance of your gross and unholy ritual has been cancelled," Buffy quipped as she fought off the demons still trying to reach the baby. Seeing Anya's predicament, Buffy threw the next demon at one of the two holding Anya.

"Please see the vengeance demons for a full refund," Buffy said as the demon she threw knocked away one of the two holding Anya. Freeing herself from the other, Anya grabbed a knife Hallie had thrown. She pulled it out of a demon's torso and slit his throat. Knowing that a slit throat would heal, Anya gave it another slice and the demon's head came off. The unpleasant blue-gray blood welling up from the neck as the torso fell over.

"Look at the odds - two dozen of them, three of us. These guys just don't know when to quit," Hallie observed while she pummeled another demon who had been attracted to her necklace.

"Maybe they flunked math," Buffy offered.

"Lets chop off their heads, and we'll see if they can't do better," Anya proposed as she turned with a knife in hand toward the next demon. His fancy robe billowed as he rushed her with his coiling snake arms going for her neck.

  


To be continued


	14. Chapter 14: Displacement

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Fighting continues. Spike and Harmony struggle. Buffy finds out about the cluster, which goes missing.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: It's not easy to improve without feedback, so let's have some.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Xander and Dawn tried to return the kidnapped child. Buffy forced Harmony to help her. Spike developed an interest in the cluster. A demon delivered another baby to the cult. Anya and Halfrek interrupted the demons' ritual. Buffy joined the fight.

  
  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 14: Displacement

  
  


As Buffy, Anya, and Halfrek fought the demons, Spike emerged from the tunnel. He stood for a moment mesmerized by the battle going on and the strange, gray blood flowing. Anya had chopped off the tentacles of the robed beastie charging her. Then she stuck the beastie in the eye. So familiar. This was what he used to enjoy. Once upon a time, Spike would have mucked in just for the hell of it. Wouldn't matter on whose side. Just to shed some blood. Now Spike's eyes followed the sight, but he held back. He wasn't good for anything any more. He had a way to fix that, though, if he could only find it. Tearing his eyes away from the bloodletting, he looked around. Just as he saw it, he heard a grunt and someone slammed into his back.

  


"Woops!" Harmony said. Seeing how Spike's eyes shifted away from her, searching, she changed her mind. "Not woops! I mean: Aha!"

Spike hardly even looked at her. He just shoved her off him like she was some extra, unwelcome weight he had to shed.

But Harmony wasn't that easy to get rid of. She scrambled after him and tackled him. Grabbing him around the legs, she brought him down. Spike hardly seemed distracted. He kicked at her and got loose. But she was persistent. She grabbed his foot so he lost his balance then jumped on him.

Harmony spotted the cluster sitting pretty on a pedestal. Climbing over Spike, she tried to reach the cluster first. Spike grasped her around the waist and swung her aside so she landed in a blood puddle.

"Oh, yuck. I hate you!" she yelled.

Slimy and mad, Harmony threw herself at Spike just as he got his hands on the jewel. They both slammed into the hard cavern wall, but Spike held on to the cluster. He head-butted her in the face and ran to the tunnel opening. She followed. But when she came close, Spike elbowed her then kicked her hard. Harmony fell backwards, and Spike crawled upward through the tunnel.

  


Halfrek was swinging a demon by its arms and having way too much fun with it. She let go of him and he careened into two other demons. Only a few demons remained standing. Buffy finished off one by throwing a rock at his head. Anya and Halfrek killed the rest with the languid moves of two cats playing with dead mice.

"Oh, we should do this more often. It's so invigorating. All my veins are pulsing," Halfrek said as she looked around at the bodies and the blood.

"It's good to flex our muscles from time to time," Anya said feeling only some of the same high. She envied how Halfrek could still enjoy the simple things in demon life. A little carnage and mayhem and she was as happy as a demon in a bloodbath.

"Sure, lets try not to do it on the side of good, though," Halfrek said looking at Buffy as she picked up the baby from the sacrificial, stone cradle. She went over looking at Buffy critically. Halfrek was probably revving up for a faultfinding marathon of Buffy's parenting and baby-holding technique.

While they were preoccupied, Anya noticed something else: Spike's back as he started to crawl out of the cavern and into the tunnel. Harmony was sprawled on the ground nearby. Just as Harmony was getting up, Anya pushed her back down and followed Spike.

  


Amidst demon corpses and gray blood, Buffy had picked up the baby girl from the stone table, getting a good look at her for the first time. She had the cutest curly hair, and her face was a dark red from all the vigorous crying she had been doing. After Buffy held her for a while, the baby stopped crying. The child wore one tiny white sock on one of her tiny, adorable feet. Buffy considered how close she must have been to rescuing this kid earlier that night.

"Were you leaving me clues? Tiny, little smartie. Now try not to be too precious, OK. Oh damn, look at your cute little face and your cute little pink outfit!" Buffy exclaimed knowing she was doomed.

"They are not toys you know? They are not dolls you play with then cast aside," Halfrek lectured.

Baffy just stared. Halfrek looked serious though as she eyed the baby. She had her demon face on - blood-spattered no less - and her words were more than a little creepy. Buffy tried to remember that her vengeance niche was pro kid, sort of.

"So, is that why you were flexing your vengeance muscles down here, because of your kids in peril deal?" Buffy asked trying to confirm Halfrek's kid friendly attitude.

"That and these Michila idiots are the traditional enemies of all vengeance demon kind. We kill them. They fear us, and rightly so. Why do you think they were hiding down here too afraid to get their own sacrificial goodies?" Halfrek said and indicated the baby who smiled at her unexpectedly. "How adorable."

Buffy looked at the kid worriedly and turned the baby a little so she wasn't looking at the vengeance demon.

"What are they, like forgiveness demons?" Buffy asked as she checked the baby over looking for any ouchies. The baby had some kind of weird, purply liquid staining her clothes but nothing else.

"Bite your tongue, there is no such thing!" Halfrek said disgusted by the thought. "They kill vengeance demons and for every one they kill, we kill a hundred of them. But look at this mess. It's hardly worth it. They are just overgrown worms. Did you see how easily their arms pop off?"

Halfrek made a plucking motion with her hand and Buffy grimaced.

"Yeah and blech."

"They grow back. Obviously not right away," Halfrek said as she looked around at their unmoving bodies littering the floor of the underground cave. "And not if they are dead."

"How do they get your guys if they are just worms," Buffy asked.

"They use traps and trickery," Halfrek said evasively, probably not wanting to reveal any vengeance demon vulnerabilities. "They are low demons, the lowest, hardly worth anyone's notice until they started worshiping the Denekari beast. They think they found their creator or something. It's just a bunch of smaller demons worshiping a bigger demon because it looks a little like them. And old Denekari is just a mindless animal. It eats them more than half the time at these ceremonies. The cluster is their big offering to try and appease it."

"So why do they need the babies?" Buffy asked. Willow's research had been a little vague about that from what she remembered.

"Oh, to sacrifice, but not as an offering. The babies are like beacons. The anniversary of the day they discovered their deity is the day of birth of these poor children," Halfrek explained accompanying the word "deity" with air quotes. "Their blood is used to lure the snake beast to this place. The purple stuff is scented to draw the beast. When it mixes with baby blood the Denekari beast finds it intoxicating. Can't resist."

While Buffy was listening to the disturbing lecture, a motion on the edge of her vision drew her attention.

  


As Xander hung back, Dawn went into the hospital lobby first. She went right over to the desk and started babbling loudly. The receptionist tried to get her to give some information, but Dawn sounded hyper and talked a mile a minute about a sick grandmother, and how she was baking cookies, and they burned, and other nonsense. The receptionist showed superhuman patience. Xander mentally hyperventilated. While the receptionist was preoccupied with the headache Dawn was giving her, Xander sneaked through the lobby unnoticed.

  


Without even turning her head, Buffy could see Harmony sneaking around the edge of the cavern toward the exit. She was tiptoeing, a little hunched over, like a cartoon character, hoping not to be noticed. Buffy rushed over and grabbed her by her sleeve.

"Harmony! What do you think you're doing!" Buffy yelled.

"Helping!" Harmony yelped, surprised.

"I know how you can help, come here and lean on this stake," Buffy said as she bumped her hip to indicate the stake peeking out of her belt.

"I helped you be all heroic and save the baby," Harmony whined.

"So did the vengeance demons, you don't see me thanking them. By the way, thank you guys." Buffy said turning to Halfrek then she looked all around and didn't see Anya anywhere.

"Where did Anya go?" Buffy asked vaguely worried.

"You might ask where did Anyanka and Spike go?" Halfrek said meaningfully. Her face was now human again and had a knowing look.

"Spike?" Buffy wondered.

"He took it! Spike, that thief, that cheater, that double-crosser. I'll kill him!" Harmony screamed getting loose from Buffy's grip.

Following Harmony's eyes to an alcove, Buffy confirmed that the jewel wasn't in its place on the imposing pedestal. Halfrek went closer and saw that it wasn't anywhere on the ground either.

"What does it do?" Buffy asked. She considered that in his state of mind, Spike might have just wanted something shiny. But she had a bad feeling that there was more to it. And she knew that she could always trust a bad feeling.

"Do? It's worth a lot of money is what it does, duh," Harmony told her then started to leave.

"Why does Spike want it?" Buffy asked, blocking her path.

"Are you having a blonde moment? Money! I just told you," Harmony said, waving her arms in exasperation.

"No. It's something else." Buffy was sure of that. In her arms, the baby girl squirmed uncomfortably, reacting to all the tension.

"Too bad you and your veiny, demon friends massacred all the slithery dudes or they could tell you," Harmony told her. Buffy looked around at the dead demons and the dead demon parts.

"Did you see mouths on those guys, sweetie? Did you hear a peep out of them when we ripped their arms off? They don't talk, honey," Halfrek pointed out and for once her extreme condescension seemed perfectly appropriate.

"Halfrek, you know about the jewley thingy?" Buffy said focusing on her now.

"Of course I do. What vengeance demon worth her soul wouldn't."

"So?" Buffy prompted her.

"It grants wishes."

"Damn."

"What? Are you worried that a crazy vampire might make a wish that isn't to your liking?" Halfrek mocked.

"Yes, I am," Buffy answered seriously.

"I would be too. If I wasn't an incredibly powerful demon who delights in deserved, human suffering," Halfrek said and smiled sweetly.

"Thanks for your help," Buffy said mostly sarcastically.

"No need for thanks. They killed quite a few vengeance demons to add to their collection of wish stones. They just glom them onto that thing," Halfrek explained matter-of-factly.

"That's why they kill vengeance demons, for the necklaces you guys wear," Buffy realized.

"There are other wish stones, but ours are the most prized," Halfrek boasted.

"It's not as cute as my baby," Harmony said as she peered at the baby who leaned its head over Buffy's shoulder.

"You don't have a baby, you ditz!" Buffy said turning the baby away from Harmony.

Halfrek shrugged at all the nonsense and started to wave her arm as prelude to teleporting.

"Where are you going?" Buffy asked her.

"To find Anyanka."

"And the cluster." Buffy accused worried that Halfrek was going to get the incredibly powerful wish-ball for herself, and that while holding the baby, Buffy wasn't in a position to stop her.

"Don't worry your tiny, blonde head. Vengeance demons can't use it. We have our own," Halfrek touched the pendant she wore around her neck. "They kind of cancel each other out," she explained.

"Then what does Anya want with it?"

"Paperweight? A gift to ingratiate herself to D'Hoffryn. My idea, by the way. Or she might be up to some good deed again." Halfrek looked appalled at the last idea. "I really can't stand around here and talk."

Halfrek was about to teleport when the ground shook and she almost fell over. Buffy wrapped her arms around the baby more securely and wondered if there was a safer place to stand if the ceiling started to come down, like a doorway. Somewhere above ground. Maybe one of the doorways at her house.

  


To be continued


	15. Chapter 15: Restoration

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: PG-13

Summary: Xander and Dawn are trapped. Anya tries to get the cluster back from Spike.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Spike took off with the cluster, and Anya went after him. Dawn provided cover as Xander sneaked the baby into the hospital.

  
  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 15: Restoration

  


Spike stopped climbing. He wasn't sure how far into the tunnel he was. Hardly remembering where he was going, he knew that he carried a treasure. His fingers were wrapped around the cluster. It was made up of small crystals of all colors stuck together, sort of melted in parts. It was like a rubber-band ball only jagged and glittery.

Spike tried to look into its center. Maybe there was something in there. He thought he might see a light. But in the tunnel, in the dark, it didn't shine. Spike shook it. Maybe it was broken. It didn't hum or beam or speak to him. Maybe it was a fake. The only thing he found reassuring was its weight. It was heavier than even a rock that size should be.

"I'm counting on you," he told it. "I only want a little thing. Just to be sane, like anyone else. You can do that for me, can't you?"

There was no answer. Spike shifted around uncertainly. The skinny, old man with white hair was somewhere on the edge of his vision. Spike refused to turn and look at him. But the old man was sneaky and might creep his way over to him. Spike held the cluster tightly, not averting his eyes from it.

"Make me sane," Spike said to it, almost begging.

  
  


While Dawn made a fuss at the reception desk asking for her sick grandmother, Xander walked by with the baby in a duffel bag, keeping his head down. Once Xander was in, Dawn stopped bitching.

"I see her!" Dawn exclaimed and went after an elderly woman going down the hall while trying to keep the flap of her hospital gown closed.

Xander had stepped into the men's room to keep out of sight until the corridor cleared. Once the old woman passed, and a doctor went by with a stack of charts under his arm, Xander stepped out of the men's room. Dawn saw him, let the old woman go on her way, and stood guard. Dawn looked around. No one was watching them. Xander spotted an unoccupied wheel chair and took the baby out of the bag and placed it on the seat. The baby woke up and started crying.

"Grandmother! Grandmother!" Dawn started calling very loudly to try and drown out the baby.

Xander fought the urge to pick up the crying kid and walked off toward the exit instead. Dawn was right behind him, but she nearly ran into a nurse coming out of an office who luckily had her nose in a file. Dawn changed directions right before the nurse raised her head as the baby's cries drew her attention.

Xander went the opposite way and ducked into an examining room. He peeked through the curtain and saw Dawn going after the same old woman in the hospital gown who might have protested that she wasn't Dawn's grandmother if she could get a word in edgewise. Dawn talked the old lady's ear off as she walked with her to her room.

Xander saw the nurse - a small, middle aged woman with stern features, who looked like she probably enjoyed giving shots - check out the baby and try to quiet him. The nurse looked around but didn't see anyone it might belong to.

  
  


Anya heard Spike say something as she climbed toward him. Whatever it was, it didn't include "I wish", and she was relieved. As long as he didn't say the magic words, she still had time.

Anya figured they were half way up. The rock walls of the lower part of the tunnel ended turning into packed dirt and stones. Spike was huddled up ahead, wedged against the wall. His light hair stood out brightly in the dark. He was staring at the cluster as if hypnotized.

Some dirt and rocks rolled down under Anya's feet as she climbed, and Spike jumped. He held the cluster closer to him. As Spike stared at her as if ready to fight her for it, Anya took a neutral pose. She put a hand against the tunnel wall trying for a casual lean.

"It's a cluster of some of the most powerful jewels known to demon kind, fused together in the fires of one of the many, many hell dimensions," she said sounding like a tour guide and taking a cautious step forward.

"Not looking for a history lesson. Looking for the door," Spike said, staring into the jewel.

"It will grant a demon any wish," Anya told him, knowing that he already knew that. She took one more step toward Spike.

"It will show me the way out." Spike didn't look away from the cluster as he spoke. His fingers were spread on it and he was hunched over.

"Except, that kitschy little doodad has a way of taking more than it gives," Anya said. She still had her demon face on. Her voice was raspy, and it seemed to scrape the heavy, earth scented air of the tunnel. She moved a little closer. Spike didn't seem to notice.

"Who doesn't. There's no balance to the scales. It's always crooked and sideways," he said shaking his head.

"Check out your unfortunate history, Spike - you get what you wish for and you live to regret it," Anya reminded him, but his babbling didn't give her much hope that her wise words would get through. She took a step toward him.

"It will sort me out. Settle things. Take the crazy out of my head," Spike said his voice cracking.

"It might kill you to get it out. That's one way, you know?" Anya warned him sharply and took another step. Anya reached for the cluster but Spike backed up.

"I made a mistake. I tied a rock round my neck. Can't swim like that," Spike explained.

"This is just another rock," Anya said pointing at the jewel cluster. In the dark, she could hardly see why it was such a big deal. It looked a little bumpy, like some kind of cheap and hideous knick-knack.

"I am a coffin. This thing inside - it doesn't like me. Doesn't like being inside here, buried alive. It's not right to hold it hostage in a dead thing. It knows what I am." Spike sounded anguished. "It won't let me be. Nothing is solid. I want to know that when I see a thing I see it." Spike pressed his back against the wall of the tunnel. Some dirt slid down behind him.

"I thought you wanted to be good. You can't be good if you are soul-free," Anya explained. She didn't move back hoping for another chance to grab the thing since from one second to the next Spike seemed to forget what she was up to.

"I don't feel good. It's like swallowing thorns, cutting you up from the inside." Spike was running his hand over the cluster, in a fast, nervous motion, like he was trying to smooth out its bumps. He closed his eyes.

Anya took a leap getting her hands on the cluster. But Spike was holding on too. Anya could feel the familiar power inside it. She used her knees on Spike's groin to make him let go. The pain didn't do the trick. Spike held on, and they rolled around without getting very far.

"Maybe you should give it time," Anya advised. It was a do as I say not as I do thing. She hadn't waited. She was still in her wedding dress, casting aside her humanity before that costume was even off her. So it was only a theory. You get through the pain to the other side, and there might be something good waiting for you. And then that good thing could turn out to be the worst thing of all. She decided not to argue that.

"You give it time! You don't have the cursed thing inside you!" Spike said through gritted teeth. His voice sounded strange in the tunnel. Dirt came down around them as they hit the sides of the passage. A clump of dirt fell into Anya's eyes and Spike used the opportunity to pull away from her. The cluster was in his hands, inches away from Anya. Momentarily blinded, Anya could hardly see him.

"When I was first... " Anya said. As her vision cleared, she saw Spike's lips move. "Wait!"

But he didn't. Spike closed his eyes and murmured a wish, his mouth close to the stone.

"Idiot!" Anya yelled.

A rumbling started back in the cave and moved upwards. Anya lost her footing and started to slide down. She caught herself. The shaking of the ground got worse. Anya continued down and tried to keep more control of her descent while moving quickly toward the underground cavern.

  
  


Xander held his breath then started to sneak through the examining area and toward the exit. He walked out from behind the curtain, ready to go for the emergency room door. Then his blood froze as he heard a shout behind him.

"Don't let anyone leave!" The nurse shouted in a voice much louder than Xander would have expected from a woman that barely came to his chin.

As a security guy stepped in front of the exit, Xander swerved back toward the curtained examining room. He wondered if he should worry about Dawn. She seemed very cool and assured in her scamming. He wondered how often he and Buffy had fallen for it. He should remember to keep his guard up around her and maybe get some pointers.

A different nurse walked in, surprising him and surprised to see him.

"I've been waiting for an hour, my back is killing me," Xander said before she could start questioning him.

"I don't..." she started to say and her eyes narrowed, but she was distracted by the commotion in the hall.

"Someone will be with you soon," she said absently, not even looking at him.

"That's what they said an hour ago!" Xander whined taking a page from Dawn's book of bitch and moan so they won't notice you.

A doctor appeared right behind the nurse. He was a bland guy in early middle age who looked like nothing could get his blood pressure up. Xander gave him a fake name. The doctor asked Xander questions, scribbling and only half listening to his lies. Xander would have been outraged if he wasn't so glad that no one was paying attention to him. The nurse left to find his paperwork, which Xander assured her he filled out.

Xander told the doctor he couldn't sleep from the pain in his back and had to go to work the next day.

"So you would like something for the pain," the doctor asked. As he looked at Xander, he held his head down as if he was peering over nonexistent glasses. Xander wondered if the guy had recently gotten contacts. He also realized that he was under suspicion of being a drug user.

"Well my chiropractor doesn't keep convenience store hours, so whatever you can do," Xander said vaguely.

"What do you do for a living?"

"Construction," Xander answered remembering that he should be lying a second after he said it.

"I see. And you were injured on the job?"

Xander wasn't sure what to say. Maybe letting the doctor suspect him of insurance fraud as well as trying to get drugs was a good cover. Or a good way to end up in jail.

"Well, my back didn't get like this from lifting a remote, sitting in my lazy-boy, and watching my big screen," he said as the doctor eyed him disapprovingly.

  
  


"I wish the pain would stop," Spike said into the stone.

Nothing happened. Spike didn't feel any different. The ground shook, that was all. It wasn't what he asked for.

The old man was laughing. Did he get it wrong?

"'Make the pain stop'," the old man was mocking him.

Spike could still feel the thing tearing away at him.

Someone should have told him what it was. They called it a soul, but was it a burning, corrosive thing that was eating away his insides? He had tried opening holes to let it drain, but they always healed. Maybe it was a thing with claws. It hurt him because he had taken it and placed it inside him, and it wanted out. He was trying to let it out, but it wouldn't go. Just sat there like a stubborn cat, scratched at the door, gouging it, then wouldn't leave when you open it. How could he catch it, get rid of it, if he didn't know what it was?

There was a deep noise all around him that went through his bones. It wouldn't let him think. And a voice saying "the soul is the pain, the soul is the pain" over and over and laughing, keeping time with the shaking of the earth. Then Spike remembered - Buffy was down there, and he followed Anya down the sloping tunnel.

  
  


To be continued


	16. Chapter 16: Upheaval

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: 

Summary: Everyone in the cave is in danger. Willow comes to Xander's rescue. The beast gets the cluster.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Anya failed to get the cluster away from Spike, and he made a wish. Dawn and Xander got stuck at the hospital.

  
  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 16: Upheaval

  


The ground shuddered. It caught Buffy off guard and she almost fell over. She looked around fearfully while the baby in her arms started to cry. Buffy shushed her absently as the shaking continued then grew stronger.

As the noise reverberating through the cave grew louder, Buffy notices the walls were getting sick of being walls and looking into a career change - maybe becoming sharp rocks that fall on your head. She took some quick, resolute steps toward the tunnel. She saw Harmony scurry out ahead of her squealing in panic. Buffy wasn't as fast. Before she reached the tunnel, pieces of the ceiling fell around her. Buffy was knocked to her knees.

"I am so out of here," Halfrek said. She was about to disappear when Anya stepped out of the tunnel. Anya pushed Harmony back into the cave and out of her way. Harmony ended up on her butt. She got up only to fall again. She gave up and crawled into the tunnel.

"You're going the wrong way, sweetie," Halfrek told Anya in a high anxious voice as Anya went past her unsteadily. Anya was making her way toward Buffy when she stopped.

As Buffy was about to get up, she heard it. An angry roar coming up through the earth. She turned to see dirt and rocks fly upward in an explosion. The noise was deafening. Something rose through the swirling dust and debris.

At first Buffy couldn't make out what she was looking at. Then the air cleared a little, and she saw dozens of thick snakes entwined and knotted together into one. The mass of snakes moved in unison heading toward where Buffy kneeled in front of Halfrek and Anya. Buffy scrambled to her feet but the cave floor moved under her keeping her down. She barely avoided falling with the baby who was howling. Buffy was about to set the child down and free up her arms for a fight when Halfrek barreled past her.

"You! This is all your fault!" Halfrek shrieked, lifted a sizable rock and hurled it at the snakes. The snakes spread out and the rock missed, but Halfrek was ready with another one.

"Time to go. Time to leave," Anya said as she pulled Buffy to her feet and dragged her toward the tunnel. Buffy saw the snakes that made up the Denekari beast knock Halfrek down and move toward her with their moths open, until Anya threw a rock at the beast, hitting one of the snake heads.

The snakes changed direction, moved as one to loom over Buffy and Anya. The snakes were close enough to be seen clearly. Their heads had no eyes. Each was as thick as a human leg. Very sharp teeth grew from the slits of their mouths. Anya punched one of them and all the snakes reared back. One snake head let out a scream then the others followed in a cascade of deafening shrieks. A horrible noise filled the cavern.

Buffy scrambled backwards toward the tunnel keeping a firm hold on the child. From inside the tunnel a voice could barely be heard speaking a stream of nonsense, "pretty things are useless things, shiny things are pretty things are useless things" over and over again.

  
  


Xander felt trapped as the doctor prodded him. He remembered to yelp in pain when the doctor tried to raise his legs. He heard that was key to faking a back injury. The doctor left.

It was not unlike a certain vision. How did it go? Him with a debilitating back problem. Buffy dead. That part he remembered. And that he came out of it determined not to let it happen. Xander also remembered the bludgeoning. It was a little creepy to be acting out any part of the scenario.

Xander heard noises from the hallway. He expected someone to barge in any moment and accuse him or arrest him. Just then the curtain parted, and Willow was standing there.

"Damn it, Willow!"

"What? There's no better place to have a heart attack," Willow said as she saw Xander clutching his chest.

"Back pain is my scam," Xander told her as he peered through the curtain to find people still milling around outside. He spotted his doctor talking to another doctor, with no thought to the fake agony Xander was in.

"Where's..." Willow started to say.

"Dawn's still around somewhere," Xander said as he ducked his head back in.

"You left..."

"I didn't leave her. We split up and she went with this old woman as a cover. Maybe she made it out," Xander said defensively.

"I was going to say you left the baby," Willow explained in an exaggeratedly soothing voice as she motioned toward the hallway. There she must have seen obvious signs that the baby had been returned.

"I carried it in this duffel bag. Dawn was the distraction specialist. She has a fake grandmother. I have everyone convinced that I'm a workmen's comp scam artist slash drug addict. I was about to go look for Dawn," Xander said peeking outside again.

Willow absorbed the information.

"I better go find her. Xander, you need to get out of here," she said looking like she expected him to get himself arrested any minute.

"Can't. The place is locked down," Xander told her.

"They are letting some people leave. But they are questioning them first," Willow informed him.

"Will my pretty face get me out of here?" Xander asked and batted his eyelashes.

"No."

"Will your pretty face get me out of here?"

Willow just smiled at the complement.

"Well, so far Dawn has employed the pain in the ass approach. It seems to work," Xander said.

"Yes, but she has a natural advantage which we lost. We are not teenagers any more."

"We're still young and obnoxious," Xander protested.

Willow looked thoughtful for a minute and then told Xander to be ready to go. Xander knew that she could have had them out of here in two blinks of an eye or two twitches of the nose, if anyone felt safe about her using magic yet. The fact that they were not yet invisible or out of there, meant she knew it too.

  
  


The snakes snapped their teeth at Anya. Buffy picked up a rock and threw it at the nearest snake head, and the snakes turned to her. They lost interest almost immediately and turned back to Anya.

"You don't have anything it wants, honey," Halfrek said to Buffy.

Halfrek had better luck keeping the beast's attention. She got hold of a sacrificial knife. With a vicious blow, she stuck it into the thick body of one of the snakes. It turned to her. She stabbed it over and over again. The wounds only seemed to make the beast loud and unhappy. Anya was about to smash a rock into it when Spike emerged out of the tunnel with the cluster held high in one hand.

"You can have it back! It doesn't do anything!" Spike shouted.

The snake heads moved as one - their attention on Spike now. He pulled back his arm and threw the rock cluster at the beast.

The braided snakes parted. The heads fanned out at the top then came together again around the cluster. The cluster disappeared as the mass of snakes reformed around it. Things were still for a moment, then the beast snapped back and forth like a whip. Its heads knotted together almost like a fist, the thing flailed at one wall of the cave then the other.

Even without any eyes it was still doing a fine job of demolishing the cave. Big rocks started to fall threatening to block off the exit. The falling stones got closer and closer to hitting Buffy as she hunched over the terrified, crying baby.

The beast flailed around a few more times, bringing down more of the cave then slipped back down where it had come from. But the shaking didn't stop. Pieces of the cave ceiling fell all around. Dirt came down in clumps and more softly, dusting the air. Buffy coughed.

As Buffy was bent over the baby, she felt rocks hit her back and then Anya's hand guiding her toward the exit. A very large piece of cave landed near them, and Halfrek made some impatient noises as she itched to teleport out. When the next boulder hit the floor, Halfrek was gone.

  
  


Xander and Willow walked toward the exit, and on the way, they grabbed scrubs for Xander. He changed into them quickly. While he waited out of sight, Willow went over to sit with the people who were waiting to be allowed to leave. Some more patiently than others. A policewoman was questioning people off to the side. A policeman was searching the places where someone might hide, like the place between a wending machine and a large, potted plant where Xander was hiding. This gave Xander a slight feeling of urgency with a big, juicy helping of panic on the side.

Willow just seemed to be sitting there. Her back was even to the door. A middle ages woman with a bandage on her arm was fidgeting next to her, her blond hair styled in the passed out drunk bed-head fashion. Next to her a man in dirty jeans was half-asleep. Xander tried to look like he belonged there, in scrubs, but no ID, a fake orderly standing next to a big, fake tree.

  
  


The shaking brought down the ceiling behind them as Anya and Buffy entered the tunnel. Buffy climbed up with Anya's help. Spike was somewhere behind them. Anya kept Buffy and the baby from sliding back as the tunnel crumbled under them. Rocks were raining on them constantly. They were still too near the bottom when Spike stopped following. They looked back and saw him with his arms raised, as he held up the ceiling. The stone cracked between his fingers.

"That won't do any good," Buffy told him.

"We have to hurry," Anya said and they climbed up.

They could hear Spike behind them saying, "I'll hold up the sky."

The tunnel was falling apart. Large, jagged stones broke away and tumbled down. The tunnel closed behind them and Spike was gone. Buffy and Anya moved to try to avoid the same fate.

  


To be continued


	17. Chapter 17: Escape

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: Willow plans an escape from the hospital. Buffy and Anya struggle to climb through the collapsing tunnel

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Spike made a wish. The Denekari Beast got the cluster. The cave collapsed. Willow came to Xander's rescue.

  
  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 17: Escape

  


Willow could smell the sweat and gin on the woman sitting next to her in the waiting area and on the guy dozing one seat over. The woman's feet scraped over the floor every few minutes while her hands moved restlessly up and down her thighs.

"I wonder why they're letting those other people go?" Willow said to no one in particular.

The blonde woman was instantly alert, looking around.

"I don't see anyone leaving," she said after squinting suspiciously at the door and the security guy guarding it.

"Before. They let a bunch of people walk right out," Willow said. She had seen someone leave when she came in, wheeled out by staff, with discharge papers in hand. But she didn't feel she needed to mention that part.

"I don't think that's fair. I need to get home," Willow complained.

"I need a drink," the woman said bluntly.

"I think you've had enough," the man next to her said without bothering to straighten from his extreme slouch or even open his eyes.

"Shut the hell up," the woman retorted and kicked at his feet.

"Quit that!" he yelled back.

Willow moved away and sat down next to a woman who was wearing a nightgown tucked into her jeans. With her was a boy, still in pajamas, sneakers on his bare feet, who looked about eight.

"I can't believe they're making us wait like this when they let those other people leave," Willow said as the woman eyed the door.

The woman just smiled while shrinking from the noise the couple behind her was making. Their scuffle was already attracting the attention of the cops, one of whom had been on his way toward Xander's hiding spot. Xander changed hiding places to the other side of the vending machine. The kid in pajamas squirmed in his seat and tried to put his finger up his nose.

"Stop that! I think you've had enough things up your nose," the woman told him and slapped down his hand. "He got a wheel from a toy car stuck in his nose. Can you believe it?"

"I guess someone gets a day off from school tomorrow," Willow said to the boy, who looked happy at the news.

"Oh, no. He can't," the woman said looking worried. "I can't get another day off from work. He's had two colds already. My boss... no way." And she was out of her seat dragging the boy by the hand.

Willow turned to the fighting couple behind her.

"That lady is going to get them to let her leave," Willow told them. Then she had to repeat herself to be heard over their fighting.

"Like hell!" The blonde woman said and went toward the exit dragging the man with her by his T-shirt.

"Would you watch it! You'll tear it," he complained. "Are they letting her leave?" he then asked as he saw the woman with the kid talking to the guard at the door.

Willow turned to the only other person who remained waiting. He was a large, neatly dressed man who didn't look perturbed by any of it.

"I'm not staying here if they're going," Willow said but the man just shrugged.

"No one waiting for you?" Willow said as she watched the guard try to get himself heard while beset by the two women and the guy in jeans who always seemed to say something to set off his blonde friend whenever she looked like she might be backing off.

"Dogs," the large man answered Willow. For a second she didn't know what he meant.

"Oh, you have dogs at home. You're lucky you can leave them alone. My friend's dogs tore up her apartment when she left them alone at night this one time. She had to get a new carpet," Willow said and watched the guy start to stir a little.

"They chewed up her favorite quilt. And the neighbors went nuts over the noise. She thought she was going to have to move," she continued wondering at what point her story was going to sound unbelievable.

The guy started to shift in his seat, and finally got up. He and Willow joined the others as they harangued the guard. Both of the cops went over to try and take control of the situation. The man one of the cops had been questioning came over too. He felt if anyone was going to leave, it should be him.

The blonde woman shoved the guy she was with into the large, neatly dressed man and the cops were on her. As if backing away, Willow bumped into the guard, pretended to lose her balance and hung onto him to steady herself and distract him. While smiling up at the guard, out of the corner of her eye she saw Xander walk right out the door.

  
  


Spike was cut off. The ground under him slipped downward taking him with it. Dirt and rocks rained down from the disintegrating ceiling. Spike fell as the tunnel collapsed. The darkness was swallowing him. The ground finally showing its true nature, no longer pretending to be solid, just a lose collection of stuff falling apart all around him. All the light was buried now. Spike couldn't see, just feel heavy, unyielding things battering him into the darkness.

  
  


Willow walked through the hospital corridors seeing two security guys going toward the commotion at the exit. She felt her fingertips tingling like they were going to catch fire. There was a spell that would let her walk through walls. That would come in handy. She had always wanted to try it out. But she was always afraid something would go wrong when she was halfway through, and there were no safety goggles when you're experimenting with magic.

An invisibility spell would be just the thing now. And a locator spell to get to Dawn quickly. And a spell to get them out and straight home. It used to be that easy, and getting easier all the time. Her strength was building with every new spell. Until it built up into something she was now afraid of. Something that stirred at every challenge, ready to help her, make things easy for her again. It looked down at the primitive being that walked using muscles, moving as slowly as a snail. It wasn't easy to say no to it when Dawn might be in trouble.

Willow hoped her stunt wouldn't lead to their escape being cut off. But she didn't think Xander could have avoided detection much longer. Even now she wondered when the police would roll up to Xander, sitting suspiciously in a parked car, and arrest him.

  
  


Buffy climbed up the tunnel first, holding the baby in one arm, digging her other hand in the ground in front of her so she could pull them both up. Anya half pushed her half supported her from behind. Instead of boulders, the tunnel walls now spilled dirt. Clumps of it and big and small stones came down on them. Buffy feared for the baby as the earth would hardly let her breathe. Dirt replaced air. The space around them was shrinking, pressing down on them. Soon it would be too heavy for them to move through it. Buffy found the child's cries reassuring. As long as she was crying, she was breathing, not choking on dirt. They didn't get this far to get beaten by a few feet of soil. This was nothing. They struggled upward clawing through the loosening dirt, hardly able to find a foothold or handhold that didn't turn into quicksand. They had to be close to the opening now. Buried, they couldn't move to reach it.

  
  


Willow was trying to look like she knew where she was going so no one would stop her. Finally, she found Dawn talking to an old woman in her hospital room. Willow stood in the doorway until Dawn noticed her.

"This is Mrs. Etcher. She lost her glasses. She was released, but she couldn't get a ride home," Dawn explained sitting on the woman's bed. Except that wasn't an explanation for why Dawn was just sitting there. Willow stared at Dawn for a minute.

"Okay," Willow said slowly.

The old woman smiled in Willow's general direction and went back to using her fingers to check that her blouse was buttoned the way it should be.

"I'm helping her get ready. We can give her a ride. Did I tell you she lost her glasses in the accident? She can hardly see a thing," Dawn babbled as she winked and made faces at Willow.

"I'm sure they'll turn up," Willow said vaguely, finally seeing Dawn's point.

"She's been a real dear," the lady said toward the doorway where Willow was still standing wanting to leave right now.

Dawn was putting a few of Mrs. Etcher's things into a bag, and Willow went over and dumped some things in there quickly while giving Dawn a hurry up look.

"We can give her a ride, right?" Dawn asked.

"Sure," Willow said distracted as she kept her ears open for noises from the hallway.

Dawn introduced Willow, giving her the name Heather. Since Willow didn't know what Dawn called herself, she was careful not to call her by name. Using the lady as a cover, Willow and Dawn walked on either side of her mandatory wheelchair and left the hospital without any trouble.

  
  


Helfreck paced as she waited at the tunnel entrance for Anya to come out. She stood away from the hole as it was rapidly closing, the ground shifting to fill it.

"Why did you have to get your teleporting privileges revoked, Anyanka?" She grumbled as she watched the opening disappear.

Finally she saw movement that wasn't caused by the shaking of the ground. Something that might have been a hand disturbed the dirt. Halfrek grabbed it and pulled. She saw an arm then a dirt covered blonde head pop up along with a small child. Halfrek pulled them free of the ground that threatened to trap them. Once they were out, Buffy was coughing and spitting and making sure the baby was OK. Lying on the ground to keep from sinking in herself, Halfrek dug trough and found a clump of hair. She pulled.

"Not by the hair, Hallie," Anya had the temerity to complain.

"Don't be so picky, dear," Hallfreck said as she pulled her out by the arm.

Halfrek was happy to see Anya stand up and shake dirt off of her clothes and hair. She was also somewhat delighted to see the baby had made it through. Between coughs, Buffy was cleaning her up, cooing to her worriedly. But the child was clearly hale as she cried lustily.

"Look at the little, pink survivor. She will be making wishes in no time. Maybe something to punish those neglectful parents who let her get kidnapped," Halfrek said and tried to think of something appropriate. Halfrek saw that Buffy didn't seem pleased with that idea, but what did she know.

  
  


To be continued


	18. Chapter 18: Excavation

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: Willow and Dawn escape. Anya tries to influence Buffy.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Spike made a wish and got buried in a cave in. Anya and Buffy barely escaped with the baby. Willow came to rescue Xander and Dawn.

  
  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 18: Excavation

  


Xander moved the car closer to the hospital exit getting ready for a quick getaway. He waited in the car with the engine on, but Dawn and Willow didn't show up. From the parking lot things still looked quiet, but Xander expected a ton of police cars to pull up any second.

Watching the clock on the dashboard, he saw it had only been a few minutes of agonizing wait. He gave them another minute to show. When the time was up, he gave them another thirty seconds. Then he got ready to go back in and get them. His hand was on the door handle. Suddenly a face appeared in his window.

"Two heart attacks for the price of one," Xander gasped seeing that it was Willow again coming from a different exit and not the one Xander had been watching. She talked fast trying to sound casual and calling him Steve about a hundred times. Xander saw the same old woman Dawn had been harassing in the hospital slowly making her way to the car, her arm interlocked with Dawn's. Willow had a shopping bag in her hand, and she stowed it on the back seat.

"I get it Will. My name is Steve, and I will be your driver. And we've gone from possession of a kidnapped baby to kidnapping an old woman. Is that a step in the right direction? Do you have a dognapped chihuahua in that bag?" Xander said.

"No. But we wouldn't want to be ageist. Now shh. She isn't hard of hearing. But she did lose her glasses so she can't ID us," Willow whispered.

"Bonus!" Xander said feeling more welcoming and eager to get on their way.

Willow gave Mrs. Etcher Xander's fake, new name when they made introductions by the car. They drove off careful not to draw attention.

  


You couldn't even tell that there had been a hole there. There was a dip in the ground and some lose dirt. Buffy didn't know how long she stared at it. It was only when the kid she was holding shifted that she turned away.

The baby was warm in her arms. And filthy, probably hungry. Buffy didn't even want to know about her diaper. There were so many things the kid needed. The last thing she needed was to be stuck in the dark in the middle of nowhere. At least Buffy could hold her, reassure her. Or just plop her down on the cold, dirty ground.

Buffy didn't really want to set down the baby, but she couldn't dig while holding her. She chose a spot a little away from the unstable area. She took off her jacket and placed the baby on it gently while murmuring pleasant things to her.

"The icky demons guys are gone. We tore them up into tiny, little pieces. Tiny, icky, little pieces. Yes we did. Yes we did."

Buffy was done with the high pitched, yet reassuring, baby talk, and she was now measuring the hole with her eyes. Seeing her dirtgazing again, Anya must have guessed what she was up to.

"That stupid thing you are thinking of doing - maybe you shouldn't," Anya said looking from Buffy to where the hole had been.

"He's still alive down there," Buffy pointed out. "Well not alive. He is still undead."

Though he didn't need to breathe, Spike was too far down. Buffy didn't think he could dig himself out. He might stay there for years, pressed down by the weight of the rocks and dirt. Till someone decided to build a condo or hopefully a giant mall on the spot.

"We don't know that. Maybe a sharp rock chopped off his head. Either way, he won't be the same lovable, mentally unbalanced blood sucker you remember," Anya told her as she tried to brush dirt of her dress. Somewhere along the way Anya had put back her human face, and Buffy was glad. As Buffy waited for an explanation, Anya looked at Halfrek and then back to the ground where the hole once was.

"I saw him with the jewel. He didn't take it to accessorize, you know," Anya said and then she stopped. Like she expected Buffy to figure out the rest.

"I thought you stopped him," Buffy said irritated that she couldn't just leave, return the baby to her parents, and go to bed. It was still dark, but Buffy knew it was close to dawn. The eastern edge of the horizon was starting to glow a little.

"He made a wish. I didn't hear it. But from the way he was talking, I don't think you'll like what you find down there. If you find anything," Anya said leaving Buffy puzzled and annoyed.

Buffy jut shook her head. They would deal with what they find when they find it. Anya was like those newscasters who interrupt your regularly scheduled program already in progress just to speculate. Buffy was tired and she wanted to get this over with, see the rest of the episode and go to sleep.

"Lets find out! Lets solve this mystery, kids. Those with super-strength, raise your hands and help me dig," Buffy said with the shrill enthusiasm of a children's show host.

Buffy got down, but the others didn't join her as she started to shovel.

  


Xander watched as Willow got more and more relaxed as they drove away from the brightly lit parking lot of the hospital. Xander figured he could relax too, but it wasn't that easy for him. Maybe because he had the job of driving while implicated in kidnapping. He just wasn't cut out for a life of crime. Dawn hardly seemed phased. She chattered to the old lady and listened as the old lady chattered back as they made their getaway. It was almost enough to make Xander believe that nothing was wrong, except something with the old lady's legs that wouldn't let her sleep at night.

Once they got Mrs. Etcher home, Dawn stayed a few minutes to help her get settled in her apartment. Willow and Xander waited in the car. Small balconies studded one side of the building. A few windows still had lights in them, and they could see the flickering of TVs. It looked like the kind of place where old people with a little money in the bank go when their houses get too big for them, but before the nursing home.

"Help me out, oh smart one, should we be feeling guilty about this?" Xander wondered.

"I can't help you. Guilty is my default setting these days," Willow told him keeping her eye out for Dawn to come out from the neat, little apartment building. "My moral compass is out for repairs," she added.

"You still got a good moral compass on your shoulders," Xander said as he patted her head.

"The needle was spinning wildly just a few months ago," Willow reminded him.

"You were going through the Bermuda Triangle. Anyone's needle would be spinning," he told her, and they both got serious for a minute.

"So to guilt or not to guilt. We did help that lady, sort of. But we did it with impure motives. And I impersonated a Steve. Do I look like a Steve?"

"You do have the nose of a Steve. But you definitely have the eyebrows of a Xander," Willow said after looking at him.

"Add nosenapping to the list," Xander said as they saw Dawn approach.

"What's the gloom about guys?" Dawn asked as she hopped into the back seat.

"Moral quagmire. And I have someone else's nose," Xander told her as he started to drive away.

"I've been no help," Willow elaborated.

"You mean for using Mrs. Etcher and lying to her? And when I was at her place, I hid her spare pair of glasses so she couldn't see me. It's Ok, I gave them to her when I left," Dawn assured them when Willow gave her a horrified look.

Then Dawn continued, "Let's say that this sweet, old lady benefited from our need for subterfuge which was necessitated by a good deed of returning the baby in a way that put his parents mind at ease as soon as possible while keeping us out of jail." The adrenaline rush was making Dawn sound a little hyper and out of breath.

Dawn's verbal torrent reminded Xander to worry that Dawn was too good at this. Then it hit him.

"She's going to be a lawyer!" Xander exclaimed.

"Not our Dawny," Willow said in desperate denial.

"You keep kidnapping and aiding and abetting like this, and you're going to be glad to have a lawyer in the family," Dawn huffed and leaned back.

Xander kept an eye in the rear view mirror and reminded himself that, despite the need for sneaking and lying, they just did a good deed. No, two good deeds. The way things looked to the untrained eye tainted their heroics and made him feel like a getaway driver in a heist. But they didn't take anything, they returned. And there was going to be a phone call and then some seriously overjoyed parents.

  


It was still dark, but looking at Halfrek, Anya noticed how much cleaner she was. Halfrek had blood and dirt on her too, but she wasn't nearly as much of a mess as Anya. Anya was still shaking dirt out of her hair. Plus she had swallowed some topsoil and possibly bugs. Anya longed for a shower, and then another shower, and then maybe a nice long bath. It was Buffy's fault that she wasn't on her way home to scrub and then soak in a bubble bath.

Digging with characteristic inefficiency, Buffy wasn't making much progress. She stopped and went to the baby every time the kid made a noise. Anya estimated that at this rate it would take hours or maybe days.

"Her persistence would be admirable if it wasn't so pathetic," Halfrek had said condescendingly. The weird determination to help was something that Anya recognized from her human days. She vaguely remembered feeling it and was determined to leave it behind.

Buffy would be better off doing the same thing. Maybe she would get tired of being filthier than a pig, using her hands as shovels, the dirt getting stuffed under her manicure permanently, and give up. Anya knew that Buffy didn't like to listen but she still hoped to get through her thick, slayer skull.

"You don't even want him out here. You didn't know what to do with him. Well, problem solved," Anya pointed out.

Buffy stopped digging for a second but only to give an exasperated sigh.

"I know you don't realize this, but a soul is..." Buffy paused like she was trying to figure out how to explain a tricky concept to a child. When she had hit on the right thing, she continued, "a valuable thing. You don't just leave it buried like an old bone."

Buffy went back to digging. Anya knew when she was being condescended to. Materialism wasn't all she was about. She was also about vengeance. As for Spike's soul, she wasn't sure it was even an issue any more.

"That's if that high-priced soul is still even in there," Anya said but Buffy didn't react as she kept digging, widening the hole she was making. There was a pile of dirt next to her.

The sight reminded Anya of a child playing in the sand. She had seen them do that on the beach - pushing around wet sand only to have the ocean ruin everything. She always had the urge to go over and tell them that what they were doing was a stupid waste of time.

Anya and Halfrek stood a little away from where Buffy was kneeling. Wind was rustling their clothes. Predawn light was turning everything a dark gray.

"Oh please, valuable, my gorgeous ass. What is the big deal? Souls are a dime a dozen. Every fool with a heartbeat has one," Halfrek said and contemplated her nails. Anya knew they must be full of cave dirt and demon blood and skin. Still she was in better shape than Anya. It just wasn't fair.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Buffy told her without raising her eyes from her work except when she looked at the baby to make sure she was OK.

"A vengeance demon's soul, now that's something, not this piddling human version," Halfrek said with contempt as she waved her hand in Buffy's general direction.

"Sort of," Anya corrected under her breath. Halfrek gave her a stern look. Anya didn't meet her eyes. She had a human soul too recently not to know the difference. Once, she had valued her demon soul leaving her human soul behind like it was nothing. The second time, she felt its absence. She was so screwed up.

  


To be continued


	19. Chapter 19: Instigation

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: Willow remembers crucial information. Buffy tries to get help from Anya and Halfrek.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Spike made a wish and got buried in a cave in. Anya and Buffy barely escaped with the baby. Willow rescued Xander and Dawn. Despite vengeful influences, Buffy decided to dig out Spike.

  
  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 19: Instigation

  


Anya watched Buffy dig stubbornly. She had made a wide dip in the ground so it would be more stable and wouldn't bury her again. But there was a long way to go, and without help, she would never get it done. Anya didn't move. It would be interfering with vengeance, and she had already made that mistake.

Looking away from Buffy, Anya saw that the baby didn't seem happy. In fact, she looked like she was going to cry and make Buffy come over to her again. Those babies were clever little things, alternately cute and insufferable. If you wanted them to go back to cute again, you better do their bidding, feed them, and change them, and do other unpleasant chores.

Halfrek stepped forward and stood over Buffy. A breeze kicked up some dirt and pressed Helfreck's clothes against her body. Buffy's hair flew into her eyes and she pushed it off with a dirt covered hand.

"You can't hide it from us," Halfrek said, and Buffy looked up at her noticing the change of tone. Anya recognized it as the voice Hallie used when she was talking to one of the wronged - sort of hushed and hypnotic.

"At least half of you wants to leave him right where he is," Halfrek told Buffy in her professional, vengeance demon voice.

"That half doesn't get to vote," Buffy said quietly. Buffy had that self-righteous look on her face. Anya knew she wouldn't budge.

"I'll never understand this drive to do good at all costs. It's completely irrational. It flies in the face of all vengeance," Halfrek said turning her back on Buffy, her voice high and flippant again.

Anya wished that she didn't, but she remembered that nagging need to do the right thing. She didn't know where it came from, but the longer she was human, the more it grew inside her. She hated how vivid the memories of her human days were. The neediness, the fear, and pain, and other more pleasant things, a little further back. They would all fade in a few hundred years, though.

Anya watched Buffy still digging. Complaining sounds came from the baby who looked around as if wondering if anyone was going to stop the crazy lady. But Anya knew Buffy wasn't one for listening to reason and good advice. Anya went over and started to dig. If you can't beat them, join them was a philosophy she had already adopted once before. There were so many bad habits of which she had to break herself.

  


Xander's nerves hadn't settled yet from the hospital caper as he drove Willow and Dawn to Buffy's house. Instead of the contained but terrified feeling, now he felt his nerves let lose some of that stored up tension. He felt like going for a pizza, or to a late movie, or maybe putting together a small bookshelf. He didn't think the girls would go for that though, especially the bookshelf idea.

"So what's the deal with Giles. You were over there. So what's so great about England?" Dawn asked Willow from the back seat.

"It's the pubs, I bet it's the pubs," Xander guessed. Pub had a nice sound to it. More cheerful than a bar. You go there with you mates you have an ale or laugher or stout or something. In fact Xander wanted to go to one right now.

"It's not the food. I can tell you that," Willow said.

"Blood Pudding, Bubble and Squeak, Shepherd's Pie. Do they really eat that stuff?" Dawn asked.

"Some of it. Some of it is just to scare the tourists," Willow told her with a smile.

"And Toad in the Hole. What is that? Sounds like something you'd eat on a bet," Xander wondered.

"Not me. And I'm never putting anything called Spotted Dick in my mouth either," Dawn volunteered.

Xander didn't swerve, or drive into a light pole, or even have a coughing fit. He was very proud of himself.

"A sound policy," he said calmly. "And never say any of those words ever again," Xander ordered while next to him Willow struggled not to choke. Amateur.

  


Buffy hardly remembered digging herself out of her grave. Except in nightmares. She remembered a suffocating feeling and the weight of the dirt on top of her after she broke through the coffin. She wasn't sure how far down Spike was buried. But she didn't expect to see his hand rising out of the dirt like in some horror movie. If she left him there, he would stay there. But then the suffocating feeling would never be gone.

Anya got down to help her. Buffy tried not to make a big deal of it, but Halfrek stared at her in astonishment.

"I am starting to think that you, Anyanka, are hopeless. I can't watch this." Halfrek threw up her hands and turned away.

"It will go faster if you dig too." Buffy told Halfrek, probably pushing her luck. But she wasn't too proud to ask for help when digging a big hole in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere was involved. Until Anya started helping her, Buffy had considered leaving and coming back later, maybe with a rented backhoe, or Ditch Witch, or one of those other things Xander was always talking about.

She hadn't gotten very far down with two vengeance demons pecking at her and trying to distract her. Well, she was distracted already, afraid that, while her eyes were on shoveling, something would happen to the baby. The kid was supposed to be snug in her bed, with stuffed toys for company and maybe a musical mobile. Definitely not plunked down on the dirt next to a cave in. Buffy knew she had to get her home soon.

As Buffy tried to tune out Halfrek, she hoped Anya was doing the same. She didn't know what Anya would do or which way she would go any more. Anya wasn't supposed to be helping, Buffy was pretty sure of that. It was probably in some vengeance demon handbook or something. But sooner or later Buffy was afraid whatever leftover loyalties were driving her would wear out, and she wouldn't be able to count on Anya any more. Especially with Halfrek giving her a verbal working over.

"I am as morbidly curious as the next demon to find out what hellateous damage that unfortunate vampire has done to himself, but..." Halfrek paused and turned back, looking thoughtful for a second. "Actually, my curiosity is peaked. I've never seen Denekari's cluster in action. This could be wonderful!"

Halfrek joined them in digging. Buffy wondered if it was the Tom Sawyer effect - make it look like fun and everyone will be painting the fence. Moving dirt with both hands, Halfrek outmatched Anya. The sight of her digging with gusto, throwing stones over her shoulder, troubled Buffy. Maybe it was a sight of a demon enjoying herself – that was never a good sign. While Anya doubled her effort getting into a competition with Halfrek, Buffy kept one eye on the baby as she dug knowing that she wasn't even in the running.

  


Willow watched the lights lined up along the streets. There was hardly anyone around, and the lights shone down on empty sidewalks. Pointless spotlights saying, 'look there's no one here'. The street lights changed even though Xander's was the only car in the intersection most of the time. It was far into the night, and all these unneeded things just kept going mindlessly.

Willow let the motion of the car lull her into a dull daze. Like those babies who wouldn't sleep so their parents had to take them on midnight car rides. Willow wondered if Buffy had the luxury of half closing her eyes and letting streetlights wash over her hypnotically as she drove under them. Then Willow was wide awake, sitting up in her seat making Xander look at her funny.

"Ooh, cellphone, cellphone!" Willow called out as she stuck out her hand. Xander managed to fish it out of his pocket, and she grabbed it.

"Buffy has hers, right?" Willow asked as she dialed. Xander shrugged.

"Hi, Buffy!" Willow exclaimed relieved. "I just remembered something. Hatching rituals. Do you have the printouts I gave you?"

"In my jacket. Why... " Buffy asked sounding puzzled. Then she was screaming in Willow's ear, "Hey! Oh, no. Get away from her!" Buffy's voice started out painfully loud but then got fainter.

"Buffy?" Willow asked. There were muffled sounds Willow couldn't decipher as she yelled Buffy's name into the phone without getting an answer.

Xander pulled over and Dawn clutched the back of her seat. Then Willow heard a voice calmly say, "Buffy can't come to the phone right now."

  


to be continued

  



	20. Chapter 20: Endangerment

Title: The Sacrifices

Author: mispel

E-mail: Buffy deals with a new threat and calls on Xander.

Spoilers: Early season 7

Disclaimer: I own no one and nothing

Feedback: Any comments would be welcome.

A/N: Takes place in early season 7, not long after Beneath You and Same Time, Same Place.

Previously: Spike made a wish and got buried in a cave in. Anya and Buffy barely escaped with the baby. Willow rescued Xander and Dawn. Despite vengeful influences, Buffy decided to dig out Spike.

  


The Sacrifices

Chapter 20: Endangerment

  


While Anya was being kind of quiet, Halfrek was reminiscing about the good old days. Buffy was only half listening while piling rocks on the side of their pit. Halfrek was talking about the olden times and the Denekari beast. Something about a great battle of vengeance demons vs. snake beast.

"That was before our time, even before D'Hoffryn's time," Halfrek kept talking like someone was listening. "His predecessor led the expedition. It was epic. They sing songs about it. Admittedly, they are not good songs," she said as if to a rapt audience.

"You're not going to sing are you?" Buffy asked her worriedly.

"No, I am not going to sing. Though it is customary, and I do have a lovely voice," Halfrek said with a toss of her head.

Anya scoffed.

"I do. Anyway, I will only give the likes of you the synopsis - the great, epic battle for dummies," Halfrek said then she cleared her throat. "Worthy individuals assembled for a journey deep underground. Like in that movie."

"Lord of the Rings?" Buffy asked.

"No, Journey to the Center of the Earth," Halfrek corrected her while Buffy tried to figure out if that was the one with the submarine.

"You're showing your age, Hallie," Anya said as she threw some rocks they had dug up over the edge of their dirt crater.

"Me? I am a mere baby compared to you, a fetus, an embryo, a zygote," Halfrek said to Anya who glared more severely with every word.

Halfrek didn't seem to mind. Vengeance demons were probably right at home around massive amounts of wrath. To them it was probably like the smell of bread baking. The thought made Buffy hungry. She tried to think of something else – cookies baking. No good.

"And now that we have established Anyanka's extreme old age and my comparative youth, back to out story. The brave troop of vengeance demons - hand picked by their leader for their matchless strength and viciousness - went down through the tunnels the beast itself had dug within the earth. They found the beast's fetid lair down in the hot bowels of the earth," Hallie continued grandiosely. "Rivers flowed lava. Caves made of metals forged in magma unseen by pitiful human eyes, protected the beast from our ability to travel. That's where it went to hide."

"Coward," Buffy said making Halfrek stare at her reproachfully for the interruption. Seeing that Buffy was properly chastened or really hungry, Halfrek continued.

"And that's where the foul beast was found. The vengeance demons sent up a battle cry. They raised high their lances and their sabers - sabers were the in thing in those days – some kind of fad, I think," Halfrek explained interrupting herself this time. "They charged the beast led into battle by their bloodthirsty leader. They hacked and speared, and blood flowed into the burning center of the earth."

"They killed it? So who was that we just saw? Son of Snake Beast?" Buffy asked but Hallie didn't answer.

"Shh. It was a great battle of the likes you will never see," Halfrek said looking right at Buffy, "and unfortunately a great defeat. The leader of vengeance demons was eaten. It was the beast's appetite for wish stones. He went for the biggest one. It was just too tempting. The many jaws opened and..."

"He could be killed just like that?" Buffy interrupted again. She had always had the impression that the head vengeance demon, like D'Hoffryn, wouldn't be so easy to kill. Not that she was planning anything like that. It was just that knowing how to kill things was kind of her thing. She liked to stay informed.

"Oh, he wasn't killed, he was eaten alive. He is probably still giving that beast indigestion. Or pieces of him are. The beast caused a cave in then too -it doesn't have an extensive repertoire. The great leader's head is buried with all the others who fell in the great battle. A few pieces of him were left to lie twitching, nearly lifeless for the rest of time."

"Nearly lifeless?" Buffy said and made a disgusted face. "Are all your stories gross?"

"Oh, that's not gross, let me tell you..." Hallie began.

"Don't tell me," Buffy told her as her cell phone rang.

Buffy answered her phone getting it dirty in the process. She listened to Willow while with one hand she flattened dirt on the side of the hole so it wouldn't slide down.

Buffy wondered if this was really the time for geek talk. Willow asked about the printouts, which Buffy had taken mostly to humor her, stuck into the pocket of her jacket, and forgotten about. It wasn't like she was going to consult research notes while in the middle of fighting - 'oh hold on I just have to double check this one footnote'.

When Willow asked about the printouts, Buffy raised her head above the edge of the hole. They had kept one side of it clear as they piled dirt and rocks all around so Buffy could have a clear view of the baby. She idly looked to where the baby was lying on her jacket. And she saw small white things crawling all around the child. Buffy dropped the phone and tried to scramble out of the hole sending dirt down and sliding down herself. She finally crawling out as Anya and Halfrek protested that she was ruining their work as the dirt fell around them.

Buffy saw small blobs propped up on white, snaky arms crawling all around the baby. She went for the ones closest to the kid and smashed them with her foot. Buffy picked up the child who was screaming now and stomped all the little creatures she saw. They burst, their guts spilling out of the thin, white skin. Then she went back to the ones she already flattened and flattened them again for good measure. The child seemed freaked and Buffy tried to soothe her amidst the mess of jellyfish-looking corpses. At least the gross mini-massacre had taken the edge off her hunger.

  


Xander had stopped the car in a turning lane. Dawn was breathing down Willow's neck as Willow was on the phone.

"Who is this!" Willow asked.

"Hallie, give me the phone." This time, it was a voice Willow recognized. "Hi it's me, Anya. Buffy is fine. She doesn't have time to talk. She is busy. She has her hands full."

"Anya?" Willow asked but she had hung up already.

"Anya is with Buffy? Where are they?" Xander asked as if he was ready to go there. Willow just looked at the phone, but all it told her was how many of Xander's minutes she had just used up.

"They didn't say. I think everything is OK now. I guess," she said.

"The guessing is very reassuring, Willow," Dawn said from the back seat.

"No, it is OK. Buffy will call if she needs us," Willow said more firmly this time and looked at Xander like she knew what she was talking about. Xander drove on.

  


Buffy was taking a closer look at the white creatures, making sure they were all dead. She had trouble telling what they were supposed to look like since she had squashed them so thoroughly.

"Willow said hatching rituals. Is that what these things are, the hatchlings of those Michila demons?" Buffy asked as she looked around for more of them.

Anya was on the phone, and Halfrek didn't climb out to take a good look. Buffy saw Halfreks's head poke out above the lowest part of the dirt pile with minimal interest.

"Sort of albino, wormy things? Probably. The Michila demons call the beast only after they pop out the kiddies. In case they don't survive communion with their 'god'. The poor, ugly things were probably just hungry. Such irresponsible parenting," Halfrek said with misplaced sympathy. Then her head disappeared, and rocks started flying from her furious digging.

"They don't look like their parents. Except for the mouths, which they don't have. So how do they eat?" Buffy said annoyed as she took a close look at the only one that seemed somewhat intact. Then she squished it.

"Oh, it's a larval stage. They secret this stuff through their skin. It's digestive sweat. It dissolves their victim, and they slurp up the liquid through their skin," Halfrek said as she and Anya popped a big rock over the side of the ditch.

"Oh my God!" Buffy looked at the baby who was thankfully not liquefied. "Was that all of them?" Buffy asked wondering if there was a safe place to set the child down again.

"About two dozen, right? That's all of them then. They're like their parents, not big on independence. It's sort of a communal mind thing. You aren't going to find one of those striking out on its own," Anya said finally joining the conversation.

"Nothing to worry about, no more nasty, crawly things," Buffy reassured the baby as she put her down on top of her jacket again, but closer to the hole.

"Buffy, don't have kids," Anya said simply.

Buffy looked at her, offended.

"Oh, let her. It's people like her who keep me in business," Halfrek said and they all went back to digging.

  


"Do you think Buffy will write me a note, 'absent due to clandestine, nocturnal activities'? Do you think Buffy can spell that?" Dawn asked as they walked into the house and she saw how late it was, or how early.

"Be nice to your absent sister behind her back," Xander admonished lightly and headed to the kitchen, because that's where his stomach told him to go.

"Do you think everything is OK?" Dawn asked Willow, trying not to sound too worried.

"We can call, but if Buffy is in the middle of hand to hand, she might not be able to answer," Willow said while Xander was holding the refrigerator door open.

"She needs one of those ear things, then she can fight and rack up the minutes at the same time," Dawn told them as she sneaked past a distracted Xander to get the first crack at the refrigerator.

Xander's cell phone rang just as Dawn and Willow tried to figure out if the pizza they found was leftover from the last time or the time before that. Dawn took a slice and banged the crust against the counter. The pizza failed the test and went straight into the garbage.

"Hey, speak of the slayer," Xander exclaimed into the phone. He told Buffy how they left the baby at the hospital, but then he just listened and looked serious. Next, he was out the door telling them only that Buffy wanted him to pick her up.

  


to be continued


	21. Chapter 21: Exhumation

Previously: Spike made a wish and got buried in a cave in. Anya and Buffy barely escaped with the baby. Willow helped Xander and Dawn without using magic. Despite vengeful influences, Buffy decided to dig out Spike.

The Sacrifices

Chapter 21: Exhumation

  


They had been digging for a long time. Nearly got buried themselves as the ground around them was unstable and threatened a landslide. The dirt was loose and offered little resistance. That made it easier to dig through and more dangerous. The hole they made was much wider than the original, with sloping sides so it was less likely to collapse on them, or so Buffy hoped.

Then they hit large rocks in their digging. They had to left some of them all three together.

At one point the baby decided to assert herself and started to howl. It prompted Buffy to stop digging and Anya to ask if she had come to her senses. Buffy denied it.

The cheerful way Halfrek was digging worried Buffy. Halfrek tossed stones and dirt aside with enthusiasm and Buffy thought she heard her humming. Buffy had imagined vague and unidentifiable horrors waiting for them. But it was only Spike.

"Well, this was not worth the menial labor," Halfrek announced as they pulled Spike from the ground after what seemed like hours of digging but was probably a lot less. He was only half out when Halfrek started to shake the dirt of her clothes and climb out of the crater they had made.

Spike was covered with dirt. His eyes were open and blank. They stared up at the sky. It was still dark but starting to turn red to the east as the sun creeped up under the horizon, like a shark under water. The blood mixed with dirt that was caked to Spike's skull looked black. Buffy couldn't tell exactly what kind of injuries it concealed. When she reached through the blood and dirt to feel the back of his head, it felt soft and she drew her hand back feeling sick.

"Is this what you meant? Is it what you expected?" Buffy asked Anya without taking her eyes off Spike.

Buffy expected him to blink or move, but he didn't. And the glasslike eyes told her maybe he never would.

"No. But I guess it makes sense," Anya said as she stared down at Spike.

Buffy looked up at her with her hand still covered in Spike's blood mixed with dirt.

"This makes sense?"

"When it comes to wishes it does. They are hard to predict. But it all makes sense in the end," Halfrek said sounding cheerfully optimistic. She was a true believer in vengeance.

Buffy shook her head.

"You have to be in the business to understand," Halfrek said.

Buffy noticed that they were speaking in hushed tones, like they didn't want to disturb him. Seeing how close it was to sunrise, Buffy got out her cell phone with the hand that didn't have bloody clumps of soil sticking to it.

"How did it go?" Buffy asked into the phone as she wiped her hand on a patch of grass. She was only half listening to whatever Xander said after he told her that the other baby was safe.

"Can you come and get us?" Buffy asked and she told him where to find them.

  


Dawn looked at the baby stuff that was strewn all over the living room. They would probably have to get rid of it, maybe dump it somewhere so no one could connect them to the baby. With all this sneaking and dumping, it was almost like they were doing something wrong. Dawn considered how much easier it would have been for Willow to just magically plop the baby back in LA. Or maybe not. When Willow had done that to Dawn, it made her feel disoriented and sort of sick. Definitely not recommended for children under two years of age.

"Do you miss it? Being able to do anything, the power," Dawn asked Willow.

There was a pause. Willow picked up a few baby things and put them in the diaper bag. It looked like she was thinking hard about the right answer.

"I miss being able to help. But the power, I'm mainly afraid of it now," she admitted.

"Join the large and terrified club," Dawn said and looked at Willow, waiting for her reaction.

  


Willow wasn't sure what to say. Dawn looked at her like she was supposed to say something though. Knowing that any promises she made might be turned into lies if she slipped, Willow didn't think she had anything reassuring to tell her.

Promises would be a jinx anyway, magnifying any small slip into a big betrayal. The only way she could put Dawn's mind at ease would be to not fail her again. But that took too long. Dawn seemed to want some kind of token of good Will now. Willow would have apologized but "I'm sorry I tried to snuff you out of existence" seemed... Necessary, Willow realized.

Just as Willow was about to speak, Dawn looked away like she had given up and started picking up the baby's things and throwing them in the bag wit a little more force than was necessary. Willow moved so she was in Dawn's field of vision.

"Dawn. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I scared you. Scare you," Willow corrected herself. "I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I know," Dawn said simply. "I get some of what happened. Tara. How that could push you over into doing stuff. But it went so far, that's what I can't get on my own."

"I don't know if I want you to get it. I don't know if I really get it," Willow said doubtfully.

"Not reassuring. I guess I just want you to talk. I want an 'It's 4am and all is well'. A weather report in Willow land."

"You know you can't trust the weather report," Willow pointed out.

"I still want one," Dawn insisted. Willow felt put on the spot. It wasn't exactly like she was hiding from her true state of mind. But she did want to keep her emotions back and out of her way. Definitely not displayed all over the living room.

"It's kind of dark in here," Willow said and Dawn looked around at the reasonably well lit living room.

"I mean in here," Willow said putting a hand on her chest.

"Overcast with a chance of evil?" Dawn asked.

"Just overcast. It's hard to share that. I don't want to dwell on things like that or spread them. Be all black cloud of grief and doom," Willow said and managed a weak smile. Dawn just waited and looked at her.

"But I will if you want," Willow told Dawn who nodded and seemed satisfied.

  


"This is your chance to bat clean up. Make a clean sweep. Put your house in order," Halfrek kept saying as Buffy drew her eyes from Spike's unmoving form and looked perplexed.

Buffy was dragging Spike out of the hole they had dug. His head had dropped back as Buffy had him by the arms and his feet bounced on the ground. Anya didn't help. She just watched.

Halfrek looked down at Spike then at Buffy with the same expression.

"He is not a wounded bird, you know. But you can set his soul free. If he still has one. Let it fly away." Halfrek didn't sound at all impressed by the specialness of a soul as she facetiously fluttered her hands like wings.

"Do your part, slayer. Finish what was started," Halfrek said in that hypnotic voice she had tried to use on Buffy before.

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked, but she didn't sound like she really wanted to know the answer.

Buffy left Spike. After wiping her hands on a clump of dry grass, she picked up the baby from the ground and held her, obviously resisting the urge to squeeze her too much. Buffy put her hand on the back of her little head and rocked her. Anya knew it was really to soothe herself, but the baby didn't seem to mind.

"He asked for this. And he didn't care how he got it. He nearly took all of us with him," Anya reminded Buffy.

Looking at Spike's demolished skull, Anya though that there was a chance that she was wrong. Maybe he hadn't wished away his soul. The cluster didn't need to crack open his skull to pry out a soul. That was just one way to do it.

"I thought the snake monster thing caused the cave in," Buffy asked obviously confused.

"It looks that way to the untrained eye," Halfrek said as Buffy rolled her eyes.

"The ritual wasn't complete. The beast had no business being there," Anya started to explain but Halfrek interrupted her.

"There is a procedure to these things. The Denekari beast appears wherever the ritual is performed. But the ritual has to be completed, and I don't see a scratch on that child," Halfrek said, but Buffy didn't look any the wiser for it. She looked over the baby again making sure she hadn't missed any wounds.

"Don't look so hard. A little scratch wouldn't do. It would be large wound. You saw those knives - plenty of blood," Halfrek assured her.

"Hey! There is baby sacrifice present," Buffy protested and placed a hand over the baby's ear pressing her other ear against Buffy's neck. The baby seemed more alarmed by the maneuver than by anything that was said and made complaining sounds.

Halfrek tried for a PG version.

"They call it up with the blood of a child born on the right day. Then before it kills them all for yanking it out of its warm nest, they give it the wish stones they collected into this ball. It seems to like that and it goes away. That's how it usually works."

Buffy nodded and bounced the baby a little. It made as much sense as any wacko cult ritual.

"This time the wish caused the beast to come up despite the incomplete ceremony. To start a chain reaction to fulfill your insane vampire buddy's insipid wish," Halfrek said and looked down at Spike like she was blaming him for wasting the opportunity to make something spectacular happen.

Anya wasn't sure Buffy got it so she summed up, "OK. The cluster called up the beast to cause the cave in to make Spike brain dead to put him out of his misery."

"Who swallowed the spider to catch the fly," Buffy continued.

"The cluster is famous for granting wishes in the most destructive way. It's the influence of the vengeance stones," Halfrek said proudly. "You're lucky Spike didn't make his wish in the middle of Sunnydale." Halfrek sounded disappointed at that.

Hearing this, Buffy turned to Anya.

"You might have mentioned to Xander how dangerous the cluster was before you disappeared," Buffy said with the nerve to complain after all Anya had done.

"I think I've done enough," Anya pointed out. Now she was even more filthy than before, and her nails were shredded. And for what?

"Oh, you've done way more than enough, sweetie," Halfrek said.

Anya just glared at her.But Halfrek didn't look phased. She was eyeing Buffy.

"The rest is up to her," Halfrek said holding Buffy in her gaze.

Buffy looked away. She was staring at Spike again then she turned her attention to the baby and walked a few steps further away.

Anya tried to sort out all the wish options. Spike couldn't get a handle on his soul. It was driving him insane. So he jettisoned it like an engine on fire.

It was understandable. Human emotions were so unpleasant. Humans just didn't have much choice in the matter. Spike took his chance to bail just as Anya had.

It was easier dealing with that turmoil from the outside, watching other women cry, not crying herself. Anya didn't want to be pathetic and only able to wish away her pain. She wanted to be powerful again and not to care. Anya was sure that Spike had wanted to get rid of his soul, be his old self too.

Or maybe she was just projecting. Option two: The novelty of being a raving lunatic had worn off - the new car smell was gone. He just wanted to be sane and snarky again. It was Spike's own brain that was making him miserable, so the cluster squished it. Problem solved.

Anya couldn't be sure. With his mind turned against him, he simply might have used the wrong words. Even sane people did that when making a wish. That's what made her so much more than a magic genie.

"He is a disappointment, isn't he?" Halfreks asked joining Anya in watching Spike not move.

"But isn't it heartening to see the jewels taken from vengeance demons continue their legacy of wish-granting. They are plucky little things," Halfrek said wistfully. It was enviable how she was always able to look on the bright side.

  


To be continued


	22. Chapter 22: Transportation

The Sacrifices

Chapter 22: Transportation

  
  


The leafless, misshapen trees were casting funny shadows on the ground. There was a big hole and piles of dirt and big rocks next to it. Halfrek, Anya and Buffy stood in an eerie trio over a prostrate form as Xander drove up. The only thing that made the picture less ominous was the dark haired, dark skinned little baby in Buffy's arms. Seeing that the kid was decked out in a dirty pink outfit, Xander considered it very thoughtful of people to color code kids like that. All he had to worry about was the dreaded, gender-neutral yellow.

"You guys are a mess. Did you roll around in the dirt?" Xander asked seeing the state they were in - especially Anya and Buffy. Their clothes were ripped in places and marked with dirt.

"Yes, yes we did," Buffy told him more deadpan than was necessary.

"Ok, one mud-wrestling fantasy coming up," Xander quipped. He didn't really have mud-wrestling on his mind right then. Maybe later.

Walking over, Xander saw that the body on the ground was Spike. Xander decided to ignore all the questions that came to him about that as he turned to Buffy and the baby she was holding. The kid had on one dirty, little, white sock on her foot.

"Hey. It's the other sock," Xander said pointing at it.

Buffy tickled the bare foot.

"What is this? We just got rid of a baby," Xander objected.

"It's another baby. This one is a girl. And I'm not giving her back." Buffy must have been joking, but her tone made Xander worry a little. Buffy looked serious, standing firm in defense of all that was cute and pink and girly.

"So you guys need a ride?" Xander asked as he looked from Buffy to Anya and Halfrek.

"We need to get Spike in the trunk of your car before the sun comes up and fries him." Buffy spoke in a whisper and it was catching, even Halfrek was doing it.

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Halfrek said, shaking her head and brushing her curly hair off her shoulder with her dirty hand.

  


Xander opened the trunk and moved some things out of the way. Buffy laid the baby on the back seat. The kid was looking kind of sleepy. Buffy said soothing words to her before she went back to Spike. Halfrek was poking him with the pointed end of her shoe.

"So what happened?" Xander asked standing a little back from the fun.

"A cave in." "A wish." Buffy and Anya said simultaneously.

"Both." Buffy explained.

"Someone wished for a cave in?" Xander asked looking at Anya. He wasn't going for an accusing stare, but Anya didn't seem to get that as she glared back.

"Spike did. I guess. Sort of," Buffy answered him.

"That crazy mixed up vampire. What will he think of next?" Xander joked.

"Nothing by the look of him," Hallie answered.

"He wanted to be released," Anya said very seriously.

"I'm sure that makes some kind of sense. To the insane and the vengeance demons," Xander finished with a look at Anya and Halfrek.

"Don't try to explain it to a layperson, Anyanka. He will never understand," Halfrek said in her usual way, scornful of all things Xander.

"A layperson," Xander repeated noticing how much condescension Halfrek managed to put into the word. She might as well have said dumber-than-a-box-of-rocks person.

"Not a vengeance cognoscenti," Halfrek explained haughtily, reminding Xander why he didn't like her so very much.

"Anya thinks he wanted to not be insane any more or to end his suffering or something. And you know how wishes are," Buffy said as her eyes flicked to Anya like she couldn't help it.

"That's the solution, a lobotomy by avalanche?" Xander asked looking right at Anya.

"Well obviously," Halfrek rolled her eyes.

"He's a vegetable?" Xander asked looking from Spike's mangled skull to Buffy to Anya. He couldn't read Buffy's expression. It was blank with a hint of something underneath she wasn't letting through.

"But he isn't unhappy. And if he is still insane, he is very quiet about it." Halfrek smiled down at Spike with his open, staring eyes. Then waved her hand in front of his face with no result. She looked up at the others and beamed.

"It was that big, jewely rock thing. It grants wishes. Spike got a hold of it," Buffy continued to explain.

"Oh," Xander said when he realized Anya wasn't responsible for the wish granting.

Anya rolled her eyes when she saw from Xander's apologetic look that she was exonerated. Xander noticed she hadn't bothered to explain that part. Like she didn't care what he thought. And she probably didn't.

Buffy motioned for Xander to help her carry Spike.

  


"Wiley Coyote of vampires. Every one of his plans screws him over worse than the last," Xander said as he took a hold of Spike's feet. They felt kind of loose, like they were broken. It was pretty sickening. But not as much as his head - the way parts of it were sunken in, pieces of scull missing. It fell back when Buffy easily pulled him up by the arms.

To Xander, he seemed heavy. No surprise, he was dead weight after all. But he wasn't all the way dead - his body wasn't a pile of dust. That was the only proof. Now that he couldn't sit up and smirk, there was no difference between Spike and any other corpse.

Buffy was looking behind her to see where she was going. Xander wanted to call a time out, take her aside and tell her to dump this garbage or maybe something a little more diplomatic. 'Don't tie this thing around your neck like a dead albatross from that really long poem in English class.' Yes, he was going to bring up English literature. Why let a hard-earned, high-risk high school education go to waste? Instead, he was helping her load Spike into his car.

As they put him down inside the trunk, Xander wondered what this thing was they were moving around. He couldn't figure out if it was just an empty container. He even had to fight the urge to feel sorry for this thing, limp and smashed. But bottom line, he didn't wish him well. Add a defused Spike into the equation and everyone is a little bit safer. Better living through brain damage. He just had to wait for Buffy to catch up with his wisdom and figure it out. He didn't want to make it worse for her. It would keep. He didn't really know what she was planning anyway.

Buffy seemed OK, but she was closed off in that patented Buffy way. She had a stubborn look, and he didn't know what she was thinking behind it, except 'not now, Xander '. So he kept quiet. Well if Buffy needed a silent companion, he could get her a nice, quiet plant.

Until then he could do a plant impression. Whatever he said, his words would be coming from the other side. She was in a different place. And Xander didn't want to get into an argument while two vengeance demons were watching them like they were some kind of vampire balancing circus act.

  


Halfrek and Anya watched. Halfrek's head was to one side as she peered at the scene. Buffy and Xander turned to them when they were finished.

"Anya might need a ride," Halfrek said baiting her.

"I don't need a ride," Anya bit out giving Halfrek a warning look.

"I'd like you to come along, I need to know ... stuff," Buffy said while staring at Spike curled to fit in the trunk of the car.

Anya agreed and got into the back seat, next to the sleeping baby. Xander went to the driver's seat and let Buffy close the trunk.

"And I am off. Anyanka, I'll see you. Maybe a movie next week," Halfrek said and waved her hands in the air ready to teleport.

"Hallie, maybe you..." was all Anya got out before a white tendril appeared in the air, wrapped itself around Halfrek and took her away.

"Oh, no," Anya said as Halfrek was gone from sight. Anya slammed the car door closed.

"What was that?" Xander asked not sure what they just saw. It looked like a white string appeared out of nowhere and snagged Halfrek. Not the usual vengeance teleporting deal.

"Follow it," she ordered Xander. Buffy got in the front seat. Xander put the car in gear and drove over the bumpy ground in the direction that the white line had carried off Halfrek. Buffy reached back and Anya gave her the baby.

"I am so going to need new shocks," Xander complained as the car bounced over the rough ground.

"Not enjoying the offroading?" Buffy asked, Xander wasn't sure if she was talking to him or the baby.

"That way," Anya said pointing by sticking her arm out between the front seats.

"What was that thing?" Xander asked again. The white line was thin and it snatched Halfrek just as she started to disappear.

"A trap. It triggered when Hallie tried to teleport. We have to get to her fast. Xander, try pressing the gas pedal," Anya told him, her tone even more clipped than usual.

"Yes, dear," Xander joked, but it just wasn't funny considering.

Xander wasn't sure if they were going the right way in the gloomy landscape, but Anya told him to keep going.

"But she teleported before," Buffy pointed out.

"That was underground. There!" She pointed ahead of them to something Xander couldn't identify.

  


As they got closer, another white string came up through the air. This one seemed to lift up from the ground. It wrapped around the car. Then another did the same thing and the car stalled. More came up, and Xander could see them on the windshield, barely an inch thick. But the car wouldn't move until the strings started to drag the car toward a dip in the ground filled with dirty water.

Next to the well was Halfrek bundled up in white string with only one arm outstretched. She was holding onto something prickly growing out of the ground as the strings were trying to pull her into the water. The well was surrounded with a leathery, white ring that bulged and pulsed on one side.

"Hallie, hang on!" Anya yelled and rolled down the window. As soon as she did, the strings wrapped around her wrist and pulled her out the car window. The car was still wound with the white lines, but they stopped dragging the car - like they were no longer interest now that they had Anya. Halfrek lost her handhold and screamed. Before she was pulled into the water, Anya grabbed her. The white lines were wrapping around both of them, but Anya had managed to hold onto a tree.

"Hold the kid," Buffy told Xander and handed over the baby. Seeing that the white strings were all over her car door, Buffy climbed into the back seat and out the window that Anya had opened. She jumped out and tried to tear the white strings that held Anya. They weren't very thick, but they were sticky and they just stretched when Buffy tried to rip them.

"This stuff is like super tough chewing gum," Buffy complained struggling to tear it.

"You need something sharp," Anya yelled as she strained to hold herself and Halfrek against the force of the tendrils. Buffy looked at Xander and he pulled a sword from under his car seat.

"You have a sword under your seat?" Buffy said as she took it and proceeded to hack at the strings with it.

"You have a stake in your pocket," Xander shot back.

Buffy cut the lines holding Anya and Halfrek but they stuck to the blade threatening to make it unusable. New ones came up to replace them almost right away. They moved fast and Anya and Halfrek weren't freed.

"Get that thing," Anya said and motioned her head toward the bulge in the white ring around the water. "Stab it," she elaborated.

Buffy took only one step and she was tied around the ankles with the stretchy white strings. She fell over. She sliced the line. Then she rose and ducked immediately as a string flew at her neck. She kept low and crawled over to the ring. White lines wrapped around her legs, but she was close now.

Buffy raised the sword clumsily from her half prone position and plunged it into the thickest part of the white mass. The bulge deflated releasing a stinky, gray gas. The strings coming out of it shriveled and dried up. Anya and Halfrek broke them easily freeing themselves.

"It's like old dried up gum now? What was that stuff?" Buffy looked over at the well of liquid that definitely wasn't water. It was kind of yellowish orange and it had a sharp smell almost like vomit.

"They are snares. For us. These lines can reach out pretty far if a vengeance demon is detected in mid-teleport," Anya said and gave Halfrek an accusing look.

"I guess sometimes it's good not to have the full use of your powers," Halfrek said not sounding chastened.

"So, the Michila demons made this stuff?" Buffy asked while getting into the car to hold the baby. The car was now mostly free of the white lines. Xander went around to check on it.

"All of it. That liquid is the digestive juice we told you about. They secreted it and made the rest the way silkworms make silk. Kind of," Anya explained.

"It looked like silly string," Xander noted. "And I'm glad I won't have to chisel it off my car," he said noticing that he could just brush off the, brittle, dried up lines.

"Yes, that's what's important, not the two of us being slowly dissolved in acid till all that is left are two wish stones," Anya said giving him a bitter look.

Xander stood there uncomfortable for a while.

"So, who needs a ride?" he finally asked before the build up of tension killed him.

  


to be continued


	23. Chapter 23: Return

The Sacrifices

Chapter 23: Return

  
  


Xander drove, nervous again for no reason other than there was another kidnapped baby in his car, two vengeance demons in the back, and a dead looking guy in the trunk. There was no explaining that. On the other hand Buffy didn't seem too worried about anything except if the baby was hungry.

"I'm making a rule, no one brings home any more stray babies," Xander said as Buffy tickled the baby's stomach.

"You started it," Buffy pointed out. Then she gave her full attention back to the baby to make sure she didn't put her dirty, little fingers in her mouth.

"You're worrying me. Stop bonding with the baby," Xander told her.

"But look at her, she is going to kick major ass. You should have heard her crying," Buffy said proudly.

"Oh no, thanks," Xander said hoping that the baby wouldn't demonstrate her crying abilities in the small, enclosed space.

"Loud enough to raise the dead. But only figuratively speaking," Halfrek said joining the conversation. "She was magnificent! The spirit of the little ones can be quite impressive until it's squashed and obliterated."

"Ever try motivational speaking?" Xander asked.

"Yes," Halfrek answered. She sounded like she meant it, but Xander didn't want to ask any follow up questions. He knew from his experience with Anya that most vengeance demon stories ended with someone getting disemboweled or turned into something, or both.

"Did you hear anything about this one? Anything on the news?" Buffy asked about the baby.

"Only that she went missing. And a man in a chicken suit was seen prowling the neighborhood. Our dead demon, I'm thinking." Xander had turned on the radio during his drive to get them. There was news of the mysterious return of the other baby too.

"There are some parents who will have to answer for this," Halfrek said jumping into the conversation again with the vengeance demon's perspective on things.

"She was probably snatched from her bed. I bet the parents didn't even know. They must have thought she was sleeping," Buffy told her to forestall any spontaneous display of vengeance.

"Good parents would know," Halfrek insisted.

Xander looked in his rear view mirror. He could see Anya. She was quietly staring out the window, looking a little sullen.

  
  


As Halfrek chattered behind her, something about eye gouging, Buffy ran her fingers over the soft dark curls of the child's hair. The baby was quiet as if the drive soothed her. Buffy watched the streets start to light up with the dawn's wan sunlight. Streetlights faded, still on but insignificant and unneeded now, outmatched. Still the sun wasn't in full force. The day still hadn't arrived, and it showed. Moonlight had a brightness to it, an evening gown's elegance. This was just weak sunlight, making everything look washed out and sad. Something we were supposed to sleep through. The day not ready to be seen.

They passed only two other cars and a homeless man sleeping on a bus stop bench. Buffy absently twirled the baby's hair around the tip of her finger. Then she spotted a figure ahead of them.

"Xander, that's a cop," Buffy told Xander in a calm voice so he wouldn't slam on the breaks. She watched his knuckles turn white.

"I recognize that guy from my patrols and his patrols, I guess. Xander, turn here slowly," she told him as they neared an alley. Xander did.

"Stop," she said and Xander looked at her.

They were in an alley behind a deli. There was a dumpster and some crates.

"Are we dumping the body?" Halfrek asked, but it sounded more like a suggestion.

"No, we are returning this kid," Buffy told them.

"Not keeping her then," Xander said a little reassured.

"Wait for me here." Buffy got out of the car with the baby and peered around the corner. Then she was gone.

  
  


While Willow dozed, Dawn flipped the channels watching different stations cover the same news about the returned baby. The parents were on their way to Sunnydale to be reunited with their son. That was the best part. Dawn was hoping to see them happy and holding him, but they didn't have any footage of that yet. She got bored and put the remote down. Seeing the bag of baby stuff by the couch she poked Willow in the arm.

"What about the stuff, the baby contraband?" she asked Willow who rubbed her arm and frowned.

"We'll have to take it somewhere where no one can find it," Willow said vaguely.

"The bottom of Buffy's closet," Dawn suggested without hesitation. "She just throws things down there. Then she accuses me of taking her stuff." Dawn made a grumpy face then looked at Willow for sympathy.

Willow looked kind of sleepy. Dawn remembered that she overheard Buffy telling Xander that Willow had trouble sleeping.

"How about the basement? For now. We'll take it to the dump tomorrow," Willow decided.

"Buffy's closet. Dump. Same thing," Dawn said again.

  


Once the bag was hidden in the basement, Dawn and Willow went upstairs. Dawn wandered toward Buffy's room.

"Do you think everything is OK?" Dawn asked as she went in.

"Buffy called, so that's a good sign," Willow told her. She paused at the doorway.

"But maybe she is tied up over a pit of molten lava, and she dialed with her nose," Dawn proposed as she opened Buffy's closet and pointed to some shoes and wrinkled clothes mixed together on the floor. Willow didn't look appropriately appalled at all.

"They'll be here soon. Do you want to lie down till they come back?" Willow asked. Actually, Willow looked like the one who wanted to lie down.

"I can't. I'm all up and at 'em. But I won't be good for anything school-like tomorrow," Dawn added quickly. "Maybe after I wake up around noon."

"Oh, I'm thinking at least 2:00," Willow said as she sat on Buffy's bed.

"Does it bother you, being here?" Dawn asked seeing Willow sitting so close to the spot where Dawn had found Tara.

"Yes." A simple and quick answer came from Willow. Dawn felt kind of dumb for asking. Of course it did.

Willow's eyes were down looking at the floor. Dawn was thinking about the broken window. It was fixed. But there were always windows breaking in their house.

"That's why Buffy switched rooms," Dawn explained unnecessarily. "For when you came back, you wouldn't have to..." Dawn didn't finish. Wouldn't have to what? She was so dumb. Willow just smiled sadly.

"Buffy and Xander will be back soon," Willow reassured her. Dawn thought she was being pretty cool, not all 'when is Buffy coming home?' like some baby. But Willow could tell.

  
  


From her own patrols, Buffy knew the routine of the cops that walked the beat around there. She tried not to let them see her prowling around too often. A few times she had to cut her stakings pretty close. When a cop went by, there would be no assault in progress - just a nice, law-abiding insomniac and a pile of dust swirling around somewhere by her feet.

The last time she found a drunk leaning against a car, trying a Toyota car key on an Accord door. She sent him home before some vamp decided to drain him dry and save himself a bar tab at Willie's.

And in the nick of time as a vamp was getting ready to do just that. Of course the vamp didn't hold a grudge. He was perfectly happy to settle for Buffy. So she gave him the look she reserved for those who thought she was easy and a stake through the heart.

The drunk hadn't gotten far though since he couldn't remember where he lived. He thought it might be Cleveland. Seeing the vamp turn to dust sent the drunk guy lurching down the street. After some yelling, he got the attention of the cop who was only a block away. Buffy hid and the drunk guy got himself arrested for being drunk and disorderly. A happy ending for everyone. Except the drunk guy. And the vamp.

  
  


At this time of the morning, it was too late for vampires. The cop would be making another pass that way. Turning soon, he would be going through a little park - well two benches, a fountain, and some trees. There was also a plaque of some kind.

Buffy crouched behind a parked car and made sure no one was around. The baby looked restless, turning her head like she was searching for something. Buffy touched her dark, almost black hair. The baby wrinkled her nose. Seeing her pretty pink outfit all dirty, Buffy wished she had a chance to clean her up a little for her homecoming.

"I'll get you home," she promised.

Buffy circled around approaching the park from the other side. The whole time she hoped that the baby would stay quiet.

Before the cop came around the corner, Buffy put the baby by the path and she went away to hide. She saw him turn into the park and watched his pace quicken as he glimpsed something. Then he ran to the baby. When he got on his radio, he scared the baby and she started crying.

Buffy sneaked away before the cop spotted her. For a second, she thought she saw a skinny, old man watching her from across the street.

  
  


To be continued

  



	24. Chapter 24: Apparition

Sacrifices

Chapter 24: Apparition

  
  


Xander looked at the seat where Buffy had been and saw the dirt she left behind. The back seats were probably in the same shape. Maybe a little vacuuming would fix that. He would have to break out the stain remover for the trunk. After looking back and seeing that Buffy wasn't coming around the corner yet, his eye caught Anya's.

"Why so glum, chum?" Xander asked as a way to lift the mood. And regretted it almost immediately as Anya looked at him like he was responsible for every single thing that was wrong in the world

"Ok, never mind the small talk. We'll just sit here quietly in a car filled with tension and vengeance till Buffy comes back or gets dragged off to jail." Xander turned to face forward again and keep an eye out for Buffy in his mirrors.

"She can take care of herself," Anya said not too pleasantly.

Xander just couldn't let himself relax around Anya. She was all prickly with resentment and just waiting to sting him. OK, the wedding fiasco was his fault. But why couldn't she see it as just a small setback. It was what she had done that made it so they couldn't catch up. He should be mad at her for making herself a demon again and putting herself out of his reach.

"You two shouldn't bicker. Uncomfortable silences are just one of many benefits of non-amicable break ups," Halfrek said to them both. Then she smiled at Xander. Seeing her smiling face framed in his rear view mirror made Xander a little uncomfortable. For no particular reason - she was just a powerful and dangerous vengeance demon who didn't like him.

"Hallie, drop the counselor shtick," Anya told her.

Halfrek ignored her as she made meaningful eye contact with Xander before she spoke.

"You were the best thing that could have happened to Anyanka," Halfrek whispered, leaning forward a little, making both Anya and Xander turn to stare at her.

"You were that horrendous car crash that makes a drunk in denial finally wake up and realize that she has been domesticated into a short lifetime of the dullest drudgery," Halfrek explained speaking to Xander pleasantly.

To get her attention Anya hit her arm.

"I was a successful businesswoman!" Anya insisted.

"A salesclerk," Halfrek contradicted her.

"A partner in a thriving business!" Anya shouted.

Xander wanted to be somewhere else. This was girl talk, or possibly a demon brawl. Either way, he didn't need to be there.

"Then why did you give up this wonderful life?" Halfrek asked and she motioned to Xander with her arm like she was a game show lady pointing at a prize.

Xander's eyes traveled to Anya and he saw her glance at him before she answered.

"I wanted it all. A career woman and a vengeance demon. Why not? Until Willow huffed and puffed and blew the store down," Anya said unconvincingly. She sat back with her arms folded.

"Vengeance should be enough for anyone," Halfrek said. Anya actually growled in response.

"So, how about that cave in? That must have been something," Xander said to them before he became an innocent bystander in whatever angry vengeance demons did to resolve their differences.

"Buffy can fill you in," Anya told him curtly.

"Why burden the little thing with yet another chore? She'll have her hands full with that treasure we helped her dig up," Halfrek said.

Seeing a change of subject, Xander jumped on it.

"That was one spud that should have stayed planted," Xander complained thinking how much simpler that would have been and how much cleaner his trunk would be right now.

"It was Anya's fault." Halfrek was quick to place blame. Then Halfrek looked at Xander too long and too closely, and he recoiled a little.

"I have to say, I expected an effusive display of glee now that Spike is no longer among the mentally active. You are doing a remarkable job of containing yourself," Halfrek said arching her eyebrow.

"Hey, where's your sympathy? The famous demon solidarity I never hear so much about?" Xander asked trying to get the focus off him.

"Oh, please, vampires are so much lower than us. They are only a step above zombies, you know," Halfrek said cattily, and Xander nodded.

"I think right now Spike might be a step below zombies," Anya noted.

"Actually, this might be my favorite kind of Spike. Chipped and pathetic was pretty good. Souled and insane - an acquired taste. Brain damaged and harmless, finally, Spike light - more drool, less bite. Works for me," Xander said. It probably wasn't wise, but it felt kind of good to speak up on the subject. Not venting his Spike-hate around Buffy made him feel hypocritical. Also a little smug for having such consideration and self-control. But that was just the kind of great guy he was.

"I'm noticing an affinity for vengeance," Halfrek pronounced like she was making a diagnosis. "Anyanka, I finally see what you saw in him. Why, the way he holds a grudge is almost adequate," Halfrek complemented Xander.

"Wow, high praise," Xander said turning forward again with his eye on the side mirrors looking for Buffy.

"It is indeed," Halfrek confirmed self-importantly. "Now lets talk about your parents."

"Let's not." And just to make sure, Xander changed the subject back again. "And it's not vengeance. This Spike thing isn't about some grudge. OK, it is. But it's also just common sense. Someone took out the bullets and removed the trigger. Now if Buffy wants to set him on her mantle, I think he'll make a great conversation piece," Xander said. "You don't think that's what she is planning, do you?"

Halfrek shrugged.

"I don't hear you mentioning this whole Spike-safety philosophy to Buffy," Anya pointed out a little smugly. Like she caught him. Which she didn't.

"She knows how I feel." Xander guessed that Buffy did. Then he saw her running back to the car.

"And she's back and baby-free!" Xander exclaimed as Buffy jumped in.

"Drive," she told him.

Xander drove through the alley to the other side as Buffy kept glancing back.

  
  


Willow's tired eyes wanted to close as she sat on Buffy's bed. But too often, when her eyes shut and she was about to drift into sleep, she would jump at the sound of a gunshot. She was startled awake by a memory of a noise that seemed so real. She couldn't convince herself that her ears had nothing to do with it. Then she would have to get out of bed and turn on the light so she wouldn't see things. It was better to be awake than to be trapped in that moment. In that moment nothing mattered. Nothing existed except Tara's dead body. She couldn't live there. Here other things mattered.

"How afraid are you to be alone with me?" Willow asked Dawn.

Dawn had been looking out the window for Xander's car. She looked surprised by the question. It didn't really come out of nowhere. Willow had wondered how much of Dawn's worry over Buffy coming back was about being left alone with a recovering murderer.

In this room the furniture was different. The carpet was new. But Willow could see red stains rise up and hear Tara's voice. See her lying on the bed alongside her and then disappearing. It wasn't like Dawn had nothing to worry about.

"I'm not cowering in fear right now. But something could come up. I don't feel qualified to handle a magic mojo emergency," Dawn said. She stood half turned and waited to see what else would crawl out of the can of worms she had opened.

"I wish there was an emergency procedure. But it's pretty much get away and get Buffy," Willow told her. Not that that would do much good. But it was good to have a plan. Know your exits, drop and roll, duck and cover, that kind of thing.

Dawn nodded. She didn't look too impressed with the plan either as she turned back to the window.

  
  


Buffy kept looking back to make sure they weren't followed. She decided they were safe and turned forward again. A skinny, old man with white hair stood in the middle of the road ahead of them. Xander didn't slow down. Buffy reached for the wheel. But the man was gone. Buffy looked in the side mirror and saw him behind them bent over laughing his head off.

"Buffy what is it? Did you want to go for doughnuts?" Xander asked as they had just passed a doughnut place when Buffy tried to take over the steering wheel.

"No. I just thought I saw someone."

"Another cop?" Xander asked worriedly.

"No. Just some weird, old guy." Buffy said, perplexed.

"Old people get up earlier than normal people," Anya said as a way of explanation and Buffy and Xander both frowned.

"Yes, yes they do," Xander said, humoring her.

"Everything breaks down when you get older. I'm glad I'm not going to get old," Anya said smugly.

"Yes. Hurray," Halfrek agreed.

"You are going to get old," Anya told Buffy and Xander, "and wrinkley and lose your teeth and your hair," she said the last one to Xander. Then she sat back in her seat.

"I'm glad I'm not going to get old," she repeated unnecessarily. Xander looked at her in the rear view mirror until the light changed.

Buffy looked back but the weird old guy was gone. He had looked familiar. His white hair stood out more than anything in the gloomy light of early morning. She couldn't make out his face - it was a blur. He was skinny and kind of short, wearing nondescript dark clothes. Buffy thought she must have seen him before. Maybe when she was out some night, she might have passed him by.

  
  


After Buffy had her little spaz attack, she told them how she left the baby to be found.

"One helpless, drooling thing down, one to go," is how Halfrek summed it up. Then she gave Buffy another hint that she had to finish things. Buffy ignored her as turned around in her seat to face Anya.

Buffy was all business asking about the wish. Anya watched her face. There wasn't much there. Sure there were eyes and nose and lips, but no feelings. Buffy was working so hard to keep it all to herself. Anya could draw it out of her if she wanted. Maybe over some umbrella drinks. That was what Anya did.

She already knew some of what Buffy was holding back. Anya could glimpse the almost wishes Buffy made. Never speaking the words, just vague curses that were wordless even inside her own head. Buffy was too good to wish. She was a slayer. Anya tried to keep the smile from her face thinking of her wishes coming true in spite of her. Vengeance will out.

Buffy questioned her about the jewel cluster, a way to reverse the wish, counter the effects, get ahead in business without really trying. Anya shook her head. No different than any other repentant wisher wanting to take it all back. It was hopeless.

"Oh, the cluster's wishes aren't reversible. Unlike some people's," Halfrek butted in. She didn't bother to pointedly stare at Anya. Her meaning was far too obvious for that to be necessary.

Then they were at Buffy's house and Buffy was taking measures to keep Spike's inanimate body from burning up.

  
  


to be continued


	25. Chapter 25: Homecoming

The Sacrifices

Chapter 25: Homecoming

  
  


It was early morning as they pulled up to the house. The clouds clustered at the horizon glowed red and orange. The remaining wisps of clouds still shared the sky with a translucent moon. Buffy covered Spike with a checkered blanket from Xander's car before they lifted him out.

Spike's head lolled back and forth when she and Xander hefted him out of the trunk. His neck was probably broken. His body hung heavy, his arms over their shoulders, the feet dragging on the ground. It was a less suspicious way to carry someone than the ankles and wrists method in case anyone saw them.

Spike's feet caught on the steps as they went up to the front porch quickly. The blanket slipped off. The black wounds covering half his head were exposed to the light. The sight along with the burning smell made Xander sick. He turned his face away as they carried him in.

  


From the hallway they could see that the living room lights were on with the red light of early morning bleeding in through the curtains. Willow and Dawn came down the stairs. After a moment of hesitation, Buffy and Xander took Spike into the living room. Willow and Dawn gave them questioning glances as they moved out of their way. As Dawn was about to close the front door, she saw Halfrek and Anya standing there. She let them in and shrugged at Willow.

Spike was taken to the couch. They put him on the floor first. Then Buffy arranged the blanket to cover the couch cushions. They set him on top of it where the light couldn't touch him. His head hung sideways so Buffy propped it up and covered the worst of it with a corner of the blanket. It still looked strange. And his eyes just stared. The sight almost made Buffy throw up. Then the questions came and the feeling passed.

"Where is the jewel thingy?" Willow asked. As she mentioned it, Dawn looked around for it, but Willow didn't. Buffy realized that Willow would know if something like that was in the house. It was one of those things that reminded Buffy that she only seemed like good, old, inert Willow.

"Buried, sort of," Buffy told her.

Dawn and Willow came over and looked at Spike. Xander gave a version of what happened with constant corrections from Halfrek and Anya. Both Willow and Dawn kept looking at Buffy like they were trying to measure her feelings about it. It seemed like the more she fought to stay unreadable the harder they looked. She wished they would stop and that Anya hadn't given her those knowing and pitying looks on the way over.

"He doesn't feel anything?" Dawn asked. Then she went over and dug her nails into his wrist to make sure. They all watched for a reaction. There wasn't one. The half moon marks stood out for a moment on his pale and dirty skin.

"You call that a test. At least get a paring knife," Halfrek scolded.

"Don't," Buffy warned even though Dawn didn't look like she was about to turn their utensils into vivisection equipment.

"He might recover. Vampires heal," Willow said as she leaned over Spike and moved her head as if trying to make him follow her with his eyes.

"Not this. This is permanent. That thing doesn't mess around," Anya told them.

"How can you be sure it was the jewel? Maybe it was an accident," Dawn asked looking at Spike with distaste. Like he was a dead bug she found on the carpet.

"I know. It's just too mundane to be the work of such a powerful magical object," Halfrek said smiling at Dawn with approval. Dawn shifted away from her.

"He wanted the pain to stop. I saw him wish for something," Anya said.

"Maybe it was world peace," Willow quipped.

"That's not what was on his mind," Anya assured her. Then at a look from Xander, Anya bristled, "I tried to stop him."

Halfrek rolled her eyes.

"I've had enough of fraternizing with humans. You staying?" Halfrek asked Anya.

"No," Anya said simply. They walked out and Halfrek took Anya's arm companionably. Buffy was sort of glad for Anya, even if Halfrek was a bad influence.

"It wasn't a total loss. We got to enjoy a nice, little massacre. D'Hoffryn might even reinstate your traveling privileges when we tell him," Halfrek said as they left.

  


Anya and Halfrek walked down the sidewalk in front of Buffy's house. Halfrek chattered. Anya half listened. Anya needed someone to keep her on the right path. To Halfrek, vengeance was still like breathing or one of those other autonomic functions that keep people alive. Anya had to push herself.

Hallie didn't wonder how she was going to fill her days - a thousand more years of them. Anya would surely get back into it, fall in step with her old self, and take up vengeance once again with a passion. This night showed her how easily she could slip back.

Anya was in a fog - everything was smothered and far away from her. Nothing was clear like it used to be. Maybe Halfrek's nagging would keep her focused. Keep her mind from wandering backwards.

Halfrek must have noticed that Anya wasn't listening because she told her, "Stop this moping. We are not humans or vampires. We are vengeance demons. We have a purpose. We matter."

Hallie had to get in one last admonition before she was gone. She disappeared, and Anya was left to walk on alone. Grounded. Like a drunk pilot. A common pedestrian.

  


They all watched the door close behind Halfrek and Anya.

"Anya keeps helping. That doesn't mean anything, does it?" Dawn asked. Xander looked like he was going to say something, but then he didn't.

"It's just a leftover thing. An echo," Dawn answered herself.

"Maybe," was all Buffy could say. She was supposed to know stuff, but she was only a substitute. She didn't get the answer sheet. But maybe Dawn was better off figuring out things for herself anyway.

Xander turned on the TV and changed channels until he found news about the first baby. They showed the parents arriving at the hospital and going inside. Their faces had this tense look. They were afraid to be happy too soon. Holding it back for that first sight of their baby. When they would look at him like they did when he was new to the world.

"They are going to be so happy," Dawn said as she and Willow went into the kitchen.

Outside, the light was losing its orange hue and turning more crisp as the sun rose and filled the sky with a clean blue color. Overnight the wind had cleared out the clouds except the ones on the fringe. Xander turned off the lamps.

On the news they were talking about another baby returned after being kidnapped. They showed the family's house, the park, and not much more. In Buffy's head, the faceless parents of the little girl in the pink dress were hugging her and crying.

Willow and Dawn brought over two bowls of cereal each, handing the extras to Xander and Buffy. Buffy wasn't hungry, but no one asked her. Plus the cereal was all soupy. The poor little flakes were drowned in milk. Probably Dawn's doing. She took the bowl and then put it down next to her on the coffee table where she was sitting and staring at Spike. Dawn took a seat on the table next to her. Xander had taken the armchair, and Willow perched on its arm. It was inconvenient to have Spike taking up the couch like that.

"What do we do with him?"

Buffy hoped the question would answer itself or just go away if she ignored it. The suffocating feeling was still there. Like something heavy was tied around her neck, not letting her breathe, pulling her down. Spike lay motionless. His eyes held no expression. Buffy felt the look was reflected in her, and she pulled her eyes away from him and stood up.

She didn't know what to do with him. She did the heroic deed. It should be over. 'You've been rescued, Spike. What are you still doing here?' But he wasn't going anywhere. He was a remnant of a bad time. And he would always be like that.

On the news they were talking about mysteries and miracles. It was fully morning now, but Buffy felt like she was on some kind of delay and the light couldn't get to her to break up the night.

Buffy made herself look at the big window and take in the day. Across the street, a neighbor was picking up her newspaper from the lawn. A car was pulling out of the driveway next door. Behind her, Buffy could hear the morning show on TV and the clinking of spoons hitting the bottoms of cereal bowls. Maybe she was hungry after all. Buffy walked away to shower and change and make herself a bowl of cereal that wasn't soggy and gross, and to call in to work late so she could take a nap, and...

"We can't leave him like that," Buffy heard from behind her as she walked up the stairs.

  
  


to be continued


	26. Epilogue: Dreams

The Sacrifices

Epilogue: Dreams

  
  


Things were simple underground. Happiness was a jewel cluster. The way it warmed the beast from the inside was the epitome of satisfaction. The upper world was a cold place. The beast only went there when compelled by their rituals - those little worms that mocked it with their cloying supplications. This time they were pleasantly dead. But the offering was in its stomach. It would digest it slowly over decades, drawing strength and warmth from it until the next time. Maybe it would quiet the gnawing of that creature's flesh in its stomach, the one that wouldn't be digested so it irritated its insides. But for now it was happy as it burrowed, keeping its many heads close together, punching its way down into the warm places of the earth.

  


Harmony had broken a window of a greeting card store and taken a journal with unicorns on the cover. She had ripped off one of those pens attached by a chain to the cash register. She got out of there with the alarm blaring, and the cops pulling up. She got on the bus without paying by showing the driver her vamp face. He drove really funny for a while. Harmony had to yell at him to keep it steady. He was ruining her penmanship. She made a list in the journal.

"-Do learn how to hotwire a car. Buses are for losers.

-Don't try new things.

-Even if they involve jewels.

-Even if they are really big jewels.

-Do put more structure in your life.

-Look into joining another cult. Or major corporation.

-Spike sucks worse than ever.

-Maybe give him one more chance. But that's it.

-Never ever ever come back to Sunnydale, ever!

She underlined that one three times. Then her pen ran out of ink.

  


Buffy thought she saw the old man. His face appeared through the fogged mirror in the bathroom. And through the window downstairs, standing under a tree in her yard. Then he was behind her in the kitchen.

"You have something of mine," he said in a harsh whisper.

Buffy started to turn, but then she realized she could see him better if she didn't try to look right at him. His face looked hard and pale. His eyes were a sharp, cold blue. They mocked her. She knew him.

"Who'll burn for you now?" he asked her in a voice that was indistinct, like a rush of air by her ear.

She was on hold with the school. As she kept her eyes forward, he came close to her side. She turned, and he faded again as if he was made out of nothing. She kept staring and he dissolved. Buffy didn't think she would have to look at him again.

  


Xander stared at Spike, as he sipped his coffee. Xander was tired, and if he let his eyes cross, it seemed that Spike moved. Maybe he shouldn't let his eyes cross, or they might get stuck that way.

Xander had glimpsed Buffy moving around in the kitchen. Dawn and Willow had gone to bed. Willow had been mumbling about emailing the webmaster to update the Michila entry.

"Someone could get hurt," she said as she yawned her way up the stairs.

Xander heard Buffy on the kitchen phone letting the school know that she and Dawn weren't coming in. Her voice had a flat sound, but Xander was glad she was there. Staring at Spike was creepy. It was why Xander wasn't going to work yet - he hated to leave Buffy alone with him, with it. He sighed. He went over to the kitchen and set his coffee cup down by the sink.

Xander offered Buffy his help to move Spike again, but she said she didn't need it. She smiled at him, and she looked strangely calm and pretty. Not like someone who had stayed awake all night, and now had a vegetative vampire to deal with. Xander had changed and cleaned up. And if the side of the toaster was to be believed, he looked presentable.

"Everyone is playing hooky except you. You sure you don't want to join the slumber party?" Buffy asked.

The slumber party idea tempted him for a second. But then Xander remembered who else was invited. He looked back toward the living room and refused.

"No operating heavy machinery, right?" Buffy warned him as he got ready to leave.

Xander nodded, and he was out the door. It was a nice, sunny day. The kind of day that says everything is right with the world, demons aren't real. Only people going to work, kids going to school, someone setting their garbage out on the wrong day. Xander got into his car and drove off as Buffy stood in the doorway.

  


Buffy stood in the doorway at the back of the house. Xander had loaded up on coffee and gone to work. Willow and Dawn were napping. The sun was bright outside. The back yard looked extra green under its light. Perfect for a picnic. Maybe it was only a dream that the blanket lay on the grass covered with blood, dirt, and dust.

  
  


The end


End file.
